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The NHL’s Western Conference finals will feature the Edmonton Oilers versus the Dallas Stars. Dallas hosts Edmonton in the series opener tonight at 8 PM ET. The series is a rematch of last year’s conference finals, which Edmonton won in six games. They triumphed twice at home and twice at American Airlines Arena, where this series opens up. The Stars took two-of-three from Edmonton in the regular season, winning the only matchup at home in October, 4-1.
The Oilers are in the Western Conference finals for the third time in four seasons, while Dallas is making its third straight trip and fourth in six years. Edmonton won five Stanley Cups in seven seasons between 1984 and 1990 but has lost both finals appearances since then, including a seven-game defeat to the Florida Panthers last season. In addition to last season’s six-game defeat to the Oilers, Dallas also lost in six games to the Vegas Golden Knights the year before. The franchise, which won the Stanley Cup once in 1999, has lost its two appearances since, a six-game defeat to the New Jersey Devils in 2000 and a six-game series loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020.
Who will take the opening contest in this year’s Western Conference finals? Let’s break down each team’s play in the postseason while previewing tonight’s matchup and our Oilers @ Stars NHL pick.
After a rocky start, Edmonton has been on fire, winning eight of nine. The Oilers knocked off the Los Angeles Kings in the first round in six games after falling into a 2-0 hole. Next, Edmonton dispatched the Golden Knights in five games, the only loss coming on a freak goal with 0.4 seconds remaining.
Stuart Skinner, Edmonton’s former starting goaltender who was benched early in the postseason, has re-emerged. After Calvin Pickard, who is 6-0 with a 2.84 goals against average in the playoffs this year, went down with a lower-body injury early in the Vegas series, Skinner came off the bench and posted two straight shutouts, making 47 saves in Games 4 and 5. He is 2-3 with a 3.05 GAA and a .884 save percentage this postseason.
Kasperi Kapanen scored the overtime winner in Edmonton’s 1-0 series clincher against Vegas last Wednesday. Two days earlier. Adam Henrique scored twice and Evander Kane added a tally in Edmonton’s 3-0 Game 4 triumph. Connor McDavid leads the NHL with 14 assists this postseason, and his 17 points pace the Oilers. He just snapped his eight-game consecutive points streak in the series clincher over Vegas, so he’ll be hungry to impact Game 1’s scoreline. Leon Draisaitl has 5 goals and 11 assists while Evan Bouchard leads all defensemen with 12 points.
Dallas knocked out this year’s Presidents’ Cup winners, the Winnipeg Jets, with a 2-1 overtime win at home Saturday evening. Defenseman Thomas Harley scored off a feed from Tyler Seguin for the winner, and Sam Steel scored for Dallas in regulation. Jake Oettinger made 22 saves to win his sixth postseason playoff series in the past three years.
Mikko Rantanen leads the NHL with 9 goals and 19 points in the postseason, although he only had 1 goal and 3 assists in the last five games against the Jets after opening that series with a hat trick. Harley is second behind Bouchard in postseason points among defensemen with 11. Oettinger has been in goal all but one period in the playoffs. He has an 8-5 record with a 2.47 GAA and a .919 save percentage. He has made 362 saves and allowed 32 goals.
Dallas has won six straight at home after dropping its first-round series opener against the Colorado Avalanche. The Stars have outscored the Avalanche and Jets in those six home contests, 24-11. That includes two overtime victories.
Both Dallas and Edmonton are 3-0 in overtime this postseason. The Oilers, conversely, are 4-2 on the road this postseason. They have won four straight away from Edmonton, outscoring the Kings and then Vegas 13-7 in those wins.
Although he went cold toward the end of the Jets series, Rantanen does have 5 goals in six games at American Airlines Arena this postseason. With both teams getting goals from unlikely contributors late in their second-round series wins, look for Rantanen to bring the star power back into the mix with a goal in tomorrow night’s series opener.
Brian has been writing about sports professionally for 25 years, specializing in the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, men's college basketball and football, and soccer. He covered high school, collegiate and professional sports in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area for two decades. His written work has appeared in several print and online publications since 1999.