Stuart Skinner Backstops Oilers To Huge Win Over Lightning

Whoever said the Oilers couldn't defend?

For as long as Connor McDavid's been in Edmonton, his team has had a reputation as an all-offence firewagon, with no defence to speak of. This year has been different, and they just proved it against the Tampa Bay Lightning with an impressive 2-1 win on Tuesday night.

It was a dull affair for the first 58 or so minutes, a coach's dream of tight checking and responsible defence backed up by solid goaltending. Neither team gave an inch, which made the three goals seem all the more out of place.

The Oilers opened the scoring thanks to -- who else -- Connor McDavid. Though he seemingly hasn't been able to get a breakaway all season long, he finally broke through for a couple in the first period. Andrei Vasilevskiy stymied him on the first, but he made no mistake on his second chance as he split the Lightning defence and undressed the goaltender to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead.

The Lightning responded with their own big guns, off a painfully common Evan Bouchard turnover. Even then, it took a remarkable no-look backhand pass from Nikita Kucherov to set up Jake Guentzel for the game-tying goal halfway through the second period.

But the Oilers had a nose for breakaways on Tuesday night. Leon Draisaitl got in on the fun just two minutes later, though he got a little help from the Lightning, as Andrei Vasilevskiy's poke check ricocheted off Victor Hedman's skate and past him into the net to give Draisaitl his league-leading 20th goal of the season.

This is also a good time to mention the play of Darnell Nurse, who despite being absent from the scoresheet was instrumental in setting up both Oiler goals, and sprung Draisaitl on yet another breakaway not long after that Vasilevskiy would deny.

That 2-1 score would hold for the rest of the game, but it wasn't for a lack of trying from Tampa Bay. After pressing hard late in the third, they got a golden opportunity when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took a nearly disastrous tripping penalty with just 1:42 left in regulation.

The Oilers managed to keep the Lightning's fearsome powerplay at bay despite the two-man disadvantage until a succession of funny bounces ended with the puck in the back of Edmonton's net with just 8 seconds left. Luckily for Edmonton, the goal was disallowed for a Nick Paul high stick and the call stood on review to leave the Oilers with a 2-1 win by the slimmest of margins.

Player of the Game: Stuart Skinner

It's time to give Stuart Skinner his flowers. His season couldn't have started much worse, almost singlehandedly sinking the Oilers for the first month and a half of the season.

But he has absolutely come alive over the past few weeks, with his best work coming over the past five games. Since beating the Rangers on November 23rd, Skinner owns a 4-1 record and .946 save percentage, standing out as the Oilers' best player during their recent resurgence.

It was around this time last year that he started a half-season streak as one of the best goalies in the NHL, and it looks like he might be repeating that now. All of a sudden, the Oilers' goaltending situation looks a lot more stable.

This is a huge win for Edmonton as they embark on a four-game stretch in which they'll face Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Vegas, and Florida. A winning record over these four games will mark the Oilers as a true contender again, and Tuesday's hard-fought win over Tampa has started them on that path.

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