Game Day 12: Oilers vs Rangers
This in from former Oilers and New York Rangers goalie Steve Valiquette on the extreme mental challenges of playing goalie, the last line of an NHL team’s defence.
Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner faces this kind of difficult challenge just now, as he’s off to an inconsistent start on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.
Valiquette, who played one game for the Oilers and three seasons in New York as Hall-of-Famer Henrik Lundqvist’s back-up, and is one of the most astute people in hockey, described the mental grind on the Real Kyper and Bourne show with Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne, as the comeback of Leafs goalie Joseph Wall was being discussed.
Said Valiquette: “I’ve had my teeth kicked in in this game many times. So I do know how to come back from embarrassment. F ear of future embarrassment is a real thing for a lot of professional athletes. So I understand with Joseph Woll, if this is what he’s going through, because he did have a couple of tough games last year in the series against Florida… If that’s the case, he just needs somebody just to give him the personal time, where you’re kind of saying, ‘Hey, look, this is not unique to you.’ I’ve seen the top guys go through this and I have and I mean that.I’ve been with, you know, Roberto Luongo, Rick DiPietro, Henrik Lundquist/. I remember just going through different situations with these guys.
“I remember being in a car once with Roberto Luongo in summer training. And it was right when he was going through it all in Vancouver, all of the off-ice distractions, everything that was happening with him and (fellow goalie Cory) Schneider splitting time. And he got the call from his agent (summer of 2013) and his agent said, ‘Look, like, you’re going back to Vancouver. Like, we’re not able to get a trade happen here. You’re going back.’ And this was in the off season. And I remember him hanging up the phone call. He’s like, ‘Vally, how can they expect me to go back?’ You know, I’m like, ‘Holy cow, I understand. Like, it’s brutal. Like, you know, you went through it with the media for a whole year.’ But, you know, Roberto went out there. He had a great year. You know, he went back to Vancouver, had a great year and then got moved to Florida.
Valiquette continued: “You love the game enough, you’ll always find a way. And, you know, I feel like that’s what I went through. I was in a game in Dallas where I gave up 10 goals. 10 goals. It took me like a year to get over that. And I remember getting into the next game after I got back. And I just wanted to get through it without having a high score. We lost 4-1 in my first game back against Carolina. And I remember feeling like that was a win. Now that was not the right way to think… But I mean, it was my only way through it. Like, you know, it was so, you know, as much as you see the athlete, you know, with the big moments and everything in this game, guys, there’s a dark side to it. And it’s just tough every day.”
He concluded: “I think the bottom line is, if you love this game enough, you will always find a way to keep playing no matter how many times you get kicked in the teeth.”
My take
1. Skinner is up and down again this year. A few weeks ago he stole a win against the Rangers in New York, making numerous fantastic saves. But he had a rough game in his last start against Utah, where he let in two iffy goals in the first period and a final one in the second period where he gave away the puck behind the net. Despite that, coach Kris Knoblauch is sticking with him for tonight’s game against the Rangers.
Skinner hasn’t been helped by the defensive struggles of top d-men like Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm, who have made a higher number of major mistakes on defence than their norm. But he’s also let in five or six goals this year that had Oil Country questioning him again.
2. Since Skinner’s solid rookie season, I’ve thought that he would find a way to discover some consistency in his game and take a chokehold on the starter’s job here in Edmonton. In the Utah game, however, I had a few moments of doubt where I wondered if this would be.
If Skinner can’t cut out such major mistakes it won’t work here, if only because the pressure and criticism will get to be too much and Skinner himself will clearly be better off in another NHL city, where he will have a fresh start.
3. At this point, I don’t know where this will head. And I also don’t know what’s going on in Skinner’s mind. But Valiquette has been there in the NHL, and I thought his take was insightful and compassionate. For now I’m hoping Skinner’s love of the game will be so intense, and his competitive fire so strong, that he’ll bounce back, find his way in Edmonton and find a way to seize hold of that No. 1 job and earn a major new contract here.
All that is still within his grasp, but as Valiquette suggests, this is no easy path. It’s a dark and difficult one.
Good luck to Stuart Skinner finding his way.
Line-up vs Rangers
RNH-McDavid-Mangiapane
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Roslovic
Savoie-Henrique-Frederic
Howard-Tomasek
Nurse-Bouchard
Ekholm-Walman
Kulak-Emberson
Stecher
Skinner Pickard
Scratched: Philp, Lazar
Knoblauch is sticking with the exact same-up and combinations as beat Utah 6-3 on Tuesday. Can you blame him? Makes sense to me, even as I’m not a huge fan of 11-7. But if it works to win, roll with it.
At the Cult of Hockey
STAPLES: Is it time? Oilers keep struggling vets in top spots, but for how long?
STAPLES: Player grades: Draisaitl, Bouchard, McDavid come alive, Oilers stomp Mammoth 6-3