BLOG: Skinner uses first playoff experience as a learning moment

EDMONTON, AB -The first National Hockey League playoff start for Stuart Skinner didn't end the way he hoped it would, but it was valuable experience for the rookie netminder.
"Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Obviously not the outcome we wanted, but I thought we played a really hard game, and the fans were a lot louder than I expected, to be honest," Skinner said. "It was a lot of fun, a lot of energy, especially in the first period."
Skinner turned aside 31 of 35 Los Angeles shots in the Oilers 4-3 overtime defeat in Game 1 of their first round series. Despite allowing four goals on the night, it was a solid performance turned in by the 24-year-old. Half of the Kings goals came on the man advantage and the other half came off inch-perfect shots by 41-goal scorer Adrian Kempe.
The one goal Skinner could really want a second chance at was the game-tying goal that came in the dying seconds of the third period. Skinner quickly got across his crease to square up and stop a Philip Danault one timer on the Kings 6-on-4 power play, but the puck just sneaked outside his grasp and onto a platter for Anze Kopitar to pounce on for the 3-3 marker.
"I got a pretty good chunk of the puck there, just kind of squeaked through, and they had two guys at the net," Skinner said about the goal. "I mean, 6-on-4, it's tough to defend, but stuff like that happens in the playoffs, and it's just how you respond."

The Oilers starter is expecting a big response from both himself and the team. Edmonton carried much of the play against the Kings on Monday night, outshooting the visitors 36-24 at even strength, but the Kings 6-3 power-play advantage proved to be the difference maker. Despite the result, Skinner is going to use the game as a learning experience to build on for the rest of the playoffs.
"I think it's great that I was able to get my first game. I think it's good that I got my first loss," he said. "Being able to kind of know how that feels like, being able to know how just a playoff game feels like. I mean, all the fans, all the excitement, all the nerves is just so much fun and great learning experience for me."
The likely Calder Trophy finalist has shown a maturity and a steady demeanour far beyond his years this season and was a stabilizing force in the Oilers season. Skinner's 14-1-1 finish to the season is a major factor that Monday's Game 1 was held in Edmonton instead of Los Angeles and it's a credit to the goaltender's composure to play his best hockey as the season's stakes continued to rise.
The local product forged that mentality as a junior hockey goaltender in the Western Hockey
League. Skinner was thrust into a starting role as a 16-year-old for the Lethbridge Hurricanes back in 2014-15, where he finished the year with tied for ninth in the league with a .909 save percent despite playing for the WHL's second-worst team. Playing for a 20-win cellar dweller could have broken a young netminder with less resolve, but Skinner says he was able to rely on his veteran teammates to learn how a potential pro should react to adversity. It worked out for Skinner; by the end of his junior career he hoisted the Ed Cynoweth Trophy as a WHL Champion.

"I think I was probably just trying to look at the veteran guys and seeing how they reacted," Skinner said. "Especially as a young guy, you're always kind of trying to figure out ways that can be beneficial to move forward and to bounce back after games like that. I've had a lot of playoff experience in the Western League and the AHL, and the ECHL, so I know what it feels like to lose these games. I know how it feels to lose overtime games. I also know how it feels to win overtime games. So, it's good that I have all that experience for right now."
The Oiler were back at Rogers Place on Tuesday preparing to try and even the series against the Kings. The team feels confident in the game they put down on Monday and with some cleaning up they can take back the series. Still, the fact of the matter is they will go into tomorrow's contest down 1-0 to the Kings, but Skinner believes he has the resolve necessary to battle back in front of the Rogers Place faithful.
"I think it's massive, being able to move forward after losses, being able to move forward after wins, all those things," Skinner said. "When it does happen, you just got to know that it's in the past. You can't do anything about it, and I think it was very important for me to wake up and realize that it's behind me, and I can't do anything about it. It's a good thing that I was able to go through that, because now I'm a better man for it."