The Edmonton Oilers came up with a big win over Seattle on Saturday, but it would take an even more significant effort against the Dallas Stars if they were going to keep the win streak going. Unfortunately, the Oilers came up a goal short despite a valiant attempt to come back in the third period, falling to the Stars by a 4-3 final score.

Stuart Skinner left the game just past the midway point of the third period after a fly-by knee by Mikko Rantanen hit Stu in the head, sending the goaltending tumbling to the ground. Skinner lay motionless on the ice for what felt like a handful of minutes before he could finally get to his feet and skate to the dressing room. It was a scary scene that caused an already quiet Rogers Place crowd to get even quieter and an injury to our goalie that could linger, especially when Kris Knoblauch stated in his post-game presser that Skinner would not travel with the team to Seattle.

Say what you will about Skinner’s performance — Gord knows I wasn’t thrilled with a couple of the goals he allowed — but that all seems secondary when you see a guy get hurt like that. Yes, it’s frustrating that the Oilers can’t seem to lock down their goaltending and the result is too often avoidable losses, but none of that matters when we remember the human element of what happened. Concussions are scary and unpredictable, and Skinner took a significant shot to the head that seems like it will keep him out of the lineup for a while. As annoyed as I am about the loss, I’m having a hard time caring too much after being at the rink and watching the whole thing go down.

While I understand the frustration with seeing your goalie finish with a .810 save percentage, I just hope that Skinner will be okay. I know the results on the board are what everyone cares about most, but I can’t help but feel awful about seeing another one of our guys go down in such a brutal fashion. Speedy recovery, Stu. We’re all thinking about you.

If you had told me back in the summer that Corey Perry would be one of the Oilers’ most consistent scorers in the bottom six, I don’t know that I would have believed you. That’s not to say that I didn’t think Perry could score — he’s always been a guy with a knack for filling the net — but I didn’t see this year’s numbers coming at all. It seems like every time Kris Knoblauch gives Corey Perry more responsibility or minutes, and the guy finds a way to pay his coach back for the bump. It’s honestly incredible to watch.

On Wednesday, Perry was given some power play duty and ended up cashing in a goal and an assist in the span of 4:24 to kickstart the Oilers’ comeback attempt. I’d also argue that Perry could have had another goal on his tally with a little bit of luck, but that only happens because the guy is still an incredibly smart hockey player and still knows where he needs to be even if his legs don’t get him there as quickly as they one did. Not only did he play well, but I also loved what he had to say about the Stuart Skinner incident in his post-game avail, blaming himself for not seeing the play or taking action when he figured out what happened.

This team needs more accountability, like what we got from Perry, even though the injury was not at all his fault, and I’m hopeful that whatever internal conversations are had are led by a future Hall of Famer who is doing everything he can to lead by example. I never thought I’d say it, given that he’s 39 years old, but this team needs more Corey Perrys and fewer passengers in the worst way.

Down by four goals when the third period started, all I was hoping was for the Oilers to make things interesting. Up to that point, the boys were actually playing pretty well, but they couldn’t get anything past Oettinger to save their lives. To be blunt about it, Oettinger was the only reason the Stars were even in the game, but we also saw in the last meeting that he could be beaten multiple times in short order. So when the Oilers started chipping away with that first goal by Perry, then Henrique, and then Hyman, I actually believed they were going to pull out the comeback.

Unfortunately, the comeback attempt was too little too late, as the Oilers came up a goal short despite having a plethora of quality chances in the final few minutes. Of course, it would have been great if the team hadn’t been in that situation with only 20 minutes to play, which would have needed an extra save here and there and a lot better puck management. So, what’s the moral of the story? While I absolutely appreciated the comeback attempt — it was a lot of fun to see the team pour the pressure on in waves — they shouldn’t have been down that far in the first place. Even with the silver lining of an exciting third period, the result was two missed points on the board that they desperately needed.

1. I can’t express how frustrating it is to outshoot the Dallas Stars 44-24, outplay them handily for most of the game, and still wind up losing by a goal. I hate it.

2. You’re up, Cal. You’re our guy now. At least for the short term.

3. Is Zach Hyman back? I really hope he’s back. After going cold for a minute, our man has goals in three of his last four games and points in all four outings. While no one has ever doubted that Hyman can still find the back of the net, it just took a little bit longer than in previous years to have all the cards fall in his favour. But now that they are, I hope Hyman never ever walks away from the table because we’ll need more of this heater he’s on if the Oilers are going to climb out of this rut they’ve been in since coming back from the 4 Nations break. Last night was game 300 for Hyman as an Oiler, and he celebrated the milestone the way he always seems to do — by scoring a goal.

4. Sports are so silly sometimes. After going through his entire tenure as an Oiler without a power play goal, all of a sudden, Adam Henrique has PP markers in his last two games, and both of them have come on lethal shots from the goalie’s right side. I don’t know what the power play plan will be for the Oilers once McDavid and Draisaitl return, but Adam Henrique is undoubtedly making a case for himself that he should be included.

5. Maybe it was just my vantage point in the stands or the lack of replays in the arena, but Wednesday’s game was a rough one for Mattias Ekholm. He got caught several times on bad reads, had shots sail past the net, and didn’t look anything like the Big Viking Daddy we’ve grown to love.

6. Just because the game was in the late slot on Wednesday doesn’t mean that I won’t still tell you that the Oilers won 51.6% of the faceoffs. Bright side?

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