Oilers HC Kris Knoblauch gets 100% honest about Stuart Skinner's goaltending in yet another "heart-wrenching" Stanley Cup Final loss 

After yet another heartbreaking Stanley Cup Finals loss, Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch was remarkably candid when discussing the performance of young goaltender Stuart Skinner.

The Oilers fell to the Florida Panthers 5-1 in Game 6 on Tuesday night, ending their season two win short of the ultimate goal.

When asked postgame about Skinner's rollercoaster ride throughout the playoffs, Knoblauch said:

"Credit to him. Credit to all the players. They’re very passionate, their hearts were in it,and they wanted the team to have as much success as possible. Stu was among them. "I thought he gave us solid goaltending, and when he didn’t, Picks came in and made up for that. We didn’t lose this on Stu not playing on his game at all," he added.

Knoblauch also acknowledged the team exceeded expectations just by making it to the Finals after all the injuries they endured late in the regular season. But he made it clear – this loss hurts just as much as last year's Game 7 defeat:

“No, there's no silver lining to this. It's still heart-wrenching. It's very difficult to handle right now. Just because we were maybe the underdogs going into the L.A. series, underdogs against Vegas, Dallas series, it hurts right now and I don’t think it’s going to let up for a while.”

The Panthers got goals from Sam Reinhart (four) and Matthew Tkachuk while Vasily Podkolzin scored the Oilers' lone tally. Skinner stopped 20 of 23 shots faced while Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves to lead Florida to their second-ever Stanley Cup.

Connor McDavid on Oilers' 5-1 loss against Panthers

Connor McDavid said the Oilers faced a formidable opponent in the Florida Panthers and asserted that no one on the team quit or gave up.

He praised the Panthers, saying they are a "heck of a team" and back-to-back Stanley Cup champions for good reason:

"Their forecheck was great. They tilted the rink. They were able to stay on top of us all over the place. Never really able to generate any momentum up the ice. We kept trying the same thing over and over again, just banging our heads against the wall."

Despite the disappointing result, McDavid expressed confidence and belief in his team, noting that not many people expected them to make it this far.

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Edited by Veer Badani