BLOG: Skinner & Campbell feeling fresh from rotation in competition for Oilers crease

EDMONTON, AB – Feeling fresh for their next opportunity between the pipes is adding fuel to the fire for Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell in their game-by-game competition to earn the Oilers crease.

While the results have not quite materialized yet for the tandem of Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell, the protectors of the blue paint for the Blue & Orange have felt more rested than ever from their early-season rotation in goal for the Oilers over their first four games of the campaign.

“Soup and I talked about it the other day,” Skinner said. “Especially with the last couple of days of travel too –  it's long travel – I think it's been good. The results might not say so, but for me I’ve been feeling a lot more fresh.

“It doesn't really matter what Woody schedules us to do. I'm ready to play every game, and so is Jack, so I think we got a good goalie tandem for that.”

Skinner will get his second start of the season tonight as he continues to battle with Campbell for every start when he opposes veteran goalie Connor Hellebuyck on Saturday night, who’s had some early-season struggles in his first few appearances much like the Edmonton-born puck-stopper.

Hellebuyck has allowed the second-most goals in the NHL this season (13) and owns the third-worst save percentage (.843) over his three appearances for Winnipeg, but still leads the NHL in starts since the 2015-16 season (448) and has amassed the second-most wins (239) during that time while finishing seven of his previous eight seasons with a save percentage above the .910 mark.

Skinner hasn’t fared much better so far this campaign, with his .750 save percentage over two appearances ranking below Hellebuyck as the lowest in the League at this early juncture of the season.

Campbell enjoyed a 42-save performance in Nashville on Tuesday for the Oilers, but is still sporting a 3.66 goals-against average and .902 save percentage following 28 saves on 32 shots in Thursday’s loss to Philadelphia.

Despite Skinner and Campbell’s own inconsistencies, the netminders are competing to push one another for individual starts and raise the standard for the Oilers between the pipes this season.

“Just try to battle and fight for the net every single day. Soupy does the same thing,” Skinner said. “We're pushing each other every single day to make each other better, and that's going to make the group better as well. 

Hopefully, that allows everyone's performance to get better, so my mindset stays the same. I want to play every single game, so whenever I'm told to get the gear on and play, I'm ready to go.”

The 24-year-old sees Saturday night’s start as an exciting opportunity to go head-to-head with the veteran netminder and test himself against a good Jets team that’ll be just as desperate as the Oilers to break out after their identical 1-3-0 starts.

“They're a great all-around team,” Skinner said. “They have good D, good goalies, good forwards and can kind of do it all, and they're a good team to play against. It's going to be a really good test for us to kind of see where our game's at.

"I'm really excited to play against these guys and it'll be a good test for myself personally as well.”