Stuart Skinner's night came to an early end.
The Edmonton Oilers decided to replace their goaltender after Skinner allowed his fifth goal of the night, swapping him with backup Calvin Pickard in the third period of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday.
Skinner exited the showdown against the Florida Panthers with 18 saves on 23 shots, finishing with a .783 save percentage and a 6.98 goals-against average. The Oilers were down 5-1 when he was yanked and ended up losing 6-1.
The Panthers dominated early, with Brad Marchand opening the scoring less than a minute into the game. Carter Verhaeghe followed it up later in the first period, then Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett found the twine in the second period.
"As a goalie, you've got to come up with a save. It's a game of inches ... If I'm a quarter of an inch out farther on Verhaeghe's goal, it could be a save. Same with Reinhart. I don't like letting open shots in, so I take accountability on those," Skinner said.
The final straw for the Oilers was a power-play marker from Aaron Ekblad 3:27 into the third as Skinner was unable to reach across the crease to stop the Panthers blue-liner from sending one into the open net.
The 26-year-old Edmonton native hasn't had a pretty Cup Final, as he came into Game 3 with eight goals against and a .892 save percentage.
After the game, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said he hadn't made a decision on a goaltender for Game 4, but noted that Skinner didn't have "much of a chance" on many of the Panthers' goals.
Pickard, 33, made his first appearance since suffering an injury in Game 2 of the second-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights.
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