Could not slide home a rebound off a 1st Period Bouchard bomb from the point. The flow of play strongly in favor with him on the ice. Curious how a few apparent infractions against him went un-called by the Zebras…until they finally had one they could not ignore with 5 minutes left in the 3 rd. Whistled for a 2 nd period Interference call. Fed Nugent-Hopkins for a chance in the high slot. Power move and then a rebound on a 1 st Period PP (which 97 had drawn) that otherwise came up empty. Stuart Skinner’s best game of the season to date. Kept his team in it while the shooters kept at it at the other end. Opened the 3 rd with yet another save on Ehlers. Then two stops on Niederreiter during a late 2 nd Period PK and another on Vilardi on a subsequent PK. A collection of fine saves part-way through the 2 nd as the jets pressed (Connor, Ehlers).
Good stops off Ehlers and Perfetti as well before the latter deflected home the 1-0 on the Power Play late in the first. Skinner handled a dangerous deflection off Lowry in the 1 st. The Oilers played a strong possession game in part due to a dominant performance in the faceoff circle (71%).
