Edmonton’s Jeff Skinner finally makes playoff debut after 15 NHL seasons

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Edmonton Oilers forward Jeff Skinner has finally made his Stanley Cup playoff debut after 15 seasons and a league-record 1,078 regular-season games.

Skinner was in Edmonton’s lineup for Game 1 of its first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night, ending the longest wait for a post-season debut in NHL history.

Skinner, who turns 33 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 of that career with Carolina, which missed nine consecutive post-seasons 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 their player of the game award after the Oilers clinched their sixth straight playoff berth two weeks ago.

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