Stuart Skinner gives up brutal goal, Oilers blow 3-0 lead on opening night

New season, same old Stuart Skinner.

The Edmonton Oilers goaltender, who has been heavily criticzed for inconsistent play the past few seasons, absolutely blew it on opening night yesterday evening against the Calgary Flames.

Despite holding a 3-0 lead, Skinner and the Oilers surrendered three unanswered goals and ended up losing 4-3 in a shootout. It was the tying goal against Skinner that was the backbreaker though.

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Again... same old Stuart Skinner. It's actually remarkable that the Oilers haven't even tried to address their goaltending issues.

"I won't be thinking about it, no," Skinner said about the goal after the game, per Sportsnet's Mark Spector. "It happens. It's probably the easiest fix I'll make this year. A quick decision, throw it in the corner, that's that. ...

"It was one bad decision and it makes you look really bad and that's kind of how it goes."

Unfortunately for Skinner, he has at least one bad decision per game and it costs the Oilers nearly every time. This team simply can't afford for him to keep making plays like these.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch acknowledged the goal and Skinner's "one bad decision" after the game, calling it a "gut punch."

"Anytime you get scored on, yes, it's a gut punch," Knoblauch said. "Whether it's us playing an almost perfect first half of the game, and then we get sloppy, and they score on (a fluke deflection) goal - that was a gut punch (too)."

Fair to say that the goaltending controversy is getting started nice and early this season in Edmonton...