LOS ANGELES (AP) — Edmonton Oilers forward Jeff Skinner finally made his Stanley Cup playoff debut Monday night after 15 seasons and a league-record 1,078 regular season games.
Skinner ended the longest wait for a postseason debut in NHL history by contributing an assist in the Oilers’ wild 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1 of their first-round series.
Skinner, who turns 33 years old next month, has been an NHL regular since he was 18. He has racked up six 30-goal seasons and 699 total points while scoring 373 goals in a standout career.
But Skinner spent his first eight seasons with Carolina, which missed nine consecutive postseasons during the 2010s, and the next six with the woebegone Buffalo Sabres, whose current 14-season playoff drought is the league’s longest.
Skinner signed with Edmonton as a free agent last summer, but struggled to nail down a consistent role in the Oilers’ lineup in the first half of the season. His game improved markedly in the second half, and he scored 16 goals this season while entering the playoffs as Edmonton’s third-line left wing.
Skinner’s teammates have been thrilled to end his drought this month. Connor McDavid presented Skinner with the championship belt that serves as their player of the game award after the Oilers clinched their sixth straight playoff berth two weeks ago.
Skinner’s line got less playing time than the Oilers’ top two groups while Edmonton mounted a four-goal comeback against the Kings, but it was also responsible for the Oilers’ second goal. Skinner got the secondary assist when Mattias Janmark scored early in the third period to trim Los Angeles’ lead to 4-2.