Oilers' Stuart Skinner makes feelings known after squandering 3-1 lead in disappointing Game 1 loss to Stars

Stuart Skinner shared his thoughts following the Edmonton Oilers' disappointing 6-3 loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday night.

The Oilers took a 3-1 lead into the third period but gave up five unanswered goals to drop the opening game of the series. Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evan Bouchard scored for Edmonton, while Stuart Skinner gave up five goals on 27 shots.

When asked how tough the loss was after playing so well for two periods, Skinner reflected:

"Obviously, we let down our guard for five six minutes. Got some penalty trouble. They were coming out hot. Momentum kind of shifted for them in that moment and obviously bit us. So yeah, it's something for us to learn from, myself included, obviously, and get better from there. "

When asked how tough it was to give up goals on six minutes of five-on-five play, Skinner responded:

"Yeah, it's a tough pill to swallow, for sure.I mean, you just can't be doing that, especially playoff time”

Skinner emphasized that mistakes like that can't happen, especially in the playoffs and against a team that knows how to score and plays with maturity. He believes Edmonton has that same level of play in them and has shown it many times.

“So just, you know, let it slip for a little bit and we'll get back at it for sure," he added.

Tyler Seguin (two goals), Miro Heiskanen, Matt Duchene, Esa Lindell and Mikael Granlund scored for Dallas, while Jake Oettinger had 24 saves. The Oilers will now look to rebound in Game 2 on Friday.

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Game recap: Oilers 6-3 loss against Stars

Edmonton went on board first with Draisaitl scoring at 10:19 of the first from the right circle. Seguin equaled the score on a breakaway for 1-1 at 15:22. Nugent-Hopkins scored on a power-play goal at 6:08 of the second to give the Stars a 2-1 led before Bouchard made it 3-1 less than two minutes later.

Heiskanen started Dallas’ comeback 32 seconds into the third on the power play, making it 3-2. Granlund then made it 3-3 with another power-play goal at 3:49.

Duchene gave Dallas a 4-3 lead at 5:58 when his shot deflected in off Nugent-Hopkins on powerplay. Seguin then added his second goal at 16:02 to make it 5-3. Lindell finshed it with an empty-net goal for a 6-3 final score.