Stuart Skinner was in goal for the Oilers, and right off the bat, Florida came at him hard, scoring just 56 seconds into the game. He gave up a power-play goal to Carter Verhaeghe later in the first period, and even though Edmonton had a quick reply, Skinner soon let in some solid follow-ups from Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett before the break.
After Aaron Ekblad scored a power-play goal for Florida early in the third period, Coach Kris Knoblauch decided to pull him and brought in Calvin Pickard as backup. At that point, Skinner had given up five goals on only 23 shots, leading to a 5-1 deficit.
Skinner later thought about how he played, saying, “To be honest, some were chaotic, some were really nice shots. It got a little post lucky for them, a couple shots, but I mean, I’ve had my post luck, too. It goes both ways, and they made some nice shots. … But as a goalie, you’ve got to come up with a save. It doesn’t matter. It’s a game of inches. I don’t like letting open shots in, so I take accountability on those.” His final stats—.783 save percentage and a 6.98 goals-against average—really showed just how off his game was.
But you know, away from the ice, things got even more unsettling. So, on the r/NHL subreddit, u/throwawayuser488 shared that after the loss, Stuart Skinner’s wife, Chloe, opened up about the online abuse their family has been dealing with.
“Tale as old as time, the goalie is the punching bag a bit. This year definitely got intense. There was times where security had to be involved. My DMs can be filled with death threats towards the kids, to myself, from anonymous accounts – people hiding behind their screens. It can get really ugly,” shared the Oilers goalie’s wife.
NHL, Eishockey Herren, USA Stanley Cup Final-Florida Panthers at Edmonton Oilers Jun 6, 2025 Edmonton, Alberta, CAN Florida Panthers center Brad Marchand 63 scores the game winning goal against Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner 74 during double overtime in game two of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place. Edmonton Rogers Place Alberta CAN, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xWalterxTychnowiczx 20250606_mcd_tb1_140
“People threatening if they ever see us, they’re going to take us out. It gets intense. And I’m making it lighthearted right now, but when I do read those, I get really scared, and I do obviously worry for the safety of my family and my young boys. It’s terrifying to think that there might be people out there who are going to hurt us over the result of a game. It is a little deranged.” Chloe said it felt pretty intimidating and disturbing, like a chilling reminder of how fast fan passion can go too far. So, what were the fans saying about it online?
Hockey fans unite against the Stuart Skinner hate
After Chloe, Stuart Skinner’s wife, revealed some really troubling news about her and her kids getting death threats following Game 3 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, fans from all over the hockey community voiced their anger and disappointment at the behavior of the toxic group. A fan really summed up the feelings of a lot of people, saying, “Bunch of losers who take this game way too serious if they are doing this type of garbage. Leave the guy and his family alone.”
Others shared that same feeling, highlighting the simple idea that sports, regardless of how intense or passionate they get, should never lead to threats or fear for anyone’s safety. “That’s so f***ing wrong. Even as someone who loves sports, at the end of the day it literally is just a game. There’s no appropriate occasion for death threats in sports, especially when the dude was clearly trying hard,” one user pointed out, highlighting the extreme and risky behavior from some Oilers fans. This fan said, “I mean not surprised just look at the oilers subreddit. Filled of crazies who blame stu for breathing even. You can always tell who’s played hockey and who hasn’t. Very sad.”
Even though Coach Kris Knoblauch pulled Skinner after the 5-1 score, he didn’t point fingers at the goalie. He mentioned, “Stu maybe wasn’t on his A-game, but our team wasn’t on their A-game in front of him. I don’t think there’s any bad goals, maybe an extra save. But it doesn’t matter how well Stu played last night, it wouldn’t have made any difference in the game, most likely. I’m not holding anything against Stu on that performance.” Knoblauch made it pretty clear that even though Skinner didn’t have his best game, the entire team is in this together and shares the blame.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to the fact that this is just sports. Like this fan said, “110% wasn’t entirely his fault. Shit happens and it’s just a game. This shit is NOT life or death.” Another fan commented, “How sad & pathetic must your life be to do some unhinged s*** like this? We all love sports but it has literally zero impact on your life. To get this upset about a game is so far beyond pathetic.” It’s pretty normal to feel disappointed in a player’s performance in sports, but a lot of people have pointed out that making threats against any player or their family is just unacceptable, cowardly, and shouldn’t happen in hockey—or anywhere else, really.
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