After 15 Seasons and 1,078 regular-season games, Edmonton Oilers left winger Jeff Skinner has finally scored his first career playoff goal on Thursday.
His goal gave Edmonton a 3-0 lead in the first period of Game 5 of their Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars. It wasn’t the prettiest goal he’s ever scored, but he certainly won’t mind. His tally gets the Oilers one step closer to advancing to the Stanley Cup final for a second-straight year.
It started with a puck battle in the corner of Dallas’ zone, where Skinner came out with the puck and attempted to execute a centring pass to Trent Frederic. The play was broken up and bobbled in front of the crease before it popped out onto Skinner’s stick.
From the slot, the 33-year-old made no mistake, throwing it through Casey DeSmith’s five-hole. DeSmith was subbed in for Jake Oettinger as the Stars’ starting goaltender allowed two quick goals on two shots in the first seven minutes of the opening period.
This is Skinner’s second career playoff game. He was the next forward available for Edmonton after losing two right-wingers in Connor Brown and Zach Hyman. Hyman has been ruled out for the remainder of the playoffs as he requires a season-ending surgery.
Therefore, Skinner is playing on the left wing beside Adam Henrique and Frederic on the fourth line.
Ever since his playoff debut earlier in the post-season, he’s been a healthy scratch for Kris Knoblauch’s team.
His first playoff appearance came in Game 1 of the first round against the Los Angeles Kings. The Oilers lost that game 6-5 and nearly completed an incredible comeback.
Skinner recorded a secondary assist in that game to cut the Kings' lead to 4-2. He played 11:12 of ice time and earned a minus-2 plus-minus rating.
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