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The Edmonton Oilers advanced to their second straight Stanley Cup Final as they defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Thursday night.
The Oilers will look for revenge against the Florida Panthers after last season’s heartbreaking Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Final.
It took Edmonton one less game in this year’s Western Conference Final rematch to dispatch Dallas. Last season, the Oilers beat the Stars 4-2 in the Western Conference Final before moving on.
The Oilers raced out to an early lead on Thursday, as they scored on their first two shots. Corey Perry and Mattias Janmark beat Stars goalie Jake Oettinger to give Edmonton a quick 2-0 lead.
Dallas head coach Peter DeBoer didn’t waste any time and pulled Oettinger from the game after he allowed the two goals. However, the switch to backup goalie Casey DeSmith didn’t yield much better results.
Edmonton’s Jeff Skinner beat DeSmith for a goal right after he replaced Oettinger and gave the Oilers a 3-0 lead with his first goal of the playoffs.
The Stars managed to cut the lead to 3-2, but Connor McDavid scored a beautiful breakaway goal to make the game 4-2 and shift the momentum back towards the Oilers.
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Stars forward Jason Robertson scored to make it 4-3, but Oilers forward Evander Kane responded with a goal to regain the Oilers’ two-goal lead. Edmonton’s Kasperi Kapanen put the finishing touch on the win with an empty-net goal as time was winding down to make it 6-3.
This is the third consecutive season the Stars have lost in the Western Conference Final.
“You’ve got to keep knocking on the door,” DeBoer said. “We chased every single game in this series, and that’s a tough way to play hockey against that team. It was the story of the entire series, but the fourth goal, Connor’s goal … the puck bounces into the neutral zone, he’s coming off the bench, he’s not missing that. It’s game over.”
At the Oilers’ celebration after the game, McDavid made sure to touch the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, the trophy awarded to the Western Conference champion; last year, he superstitiously opted not to touch it, but they went on to lose in the Stanley Cup Final.
“It’s pretty obvious, I think,” McDavid said about what was different from the end of last year’s Western Conference Final. “Don’t touch it last year, you don’t win. Touch it this year, hopefully we win.”
In last season’s Stanley Cup Final, the Oilers nearly pulled off one of the most improbable comebacks in sports history. Edmonton fell behind 3-0 in the series but battled back to force a Game 7, which they eventually lost 2-1.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final is set to begin Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
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