Oilers Thoughts: Edmonton is a different team and the Stars weren’t prepared

The Dallas Stars were massively overvalued before the Western Conference Final began, and those people betting against the Edmonton Oilers were quickly humbled.

Even after Edmonton blew a lead and lost Game 1, everyone knew they would bounce back and win Game 2 on the road. They were beaten by a Dallas power play that executed perfectly.

What was most noticeable about this team, though, is that it didn’t happen again. Edmonton shut down the Stars’ power play, limiting them to only two man-advantage goals for the remainder of the series, which came in the final two games. The Oilers controlled the special teams battle, scoring a power-play goal themselves in all five games.

Whatever Dallas threw at Edmonton, the Oilers had an immediate response. A Game 1 collapse led to a Game 2 shutout victory. Every time the Stars scored to pull themselves back into the game, Edmonton found itself a goal too — Connor McDavid in Game 3, Corey Perry in Game 4, and then Evander Kane last night in Game 5. While defence has become something the team prides itself on, the offence showed up in critical moments.

What can you even say about Stuart Skinner? He’s arguably playing the best hockey of his career at the perfect time. Yes, the Jason Robertson goal yesterday was bad, but he responded as you want. He shut it down and didn’t allow anything else to happen. It’s what he did throughout the series. Skinner made huge stops yesterday, too, but thinking back on Game 4, the save he made on Matt Duchene in the first period might’ve swung the series. That sounds ridiculous, but the fact that Dallas couldn’t score after dominating that period pushed momentum back in Edmonton’s favour, especially with Leon Draisaitl scoring shortly after. Skinner finished the Western Conference Final with a .924 save percentage and a 2.01 goals-against average.

The loss of Zach Hyman is a significant one. However, the return of Mattias Ekholm in Game 5 was fantastic after not playing since early April. Ekholm played the fewest minutes by a defenceman at 15:52 and had one assist while also finishing with a plus-two rating. He was outshot 7-5 but was on the ice for two goals for and none against. It felt essential that he got into a game before the Stanley Cup Final. Ekholm was thrown right into the fire with the intensity of this game, and the result was positive. His skating wasn’t a problem, which is a telling sign that he is healthy.

As for the Dallas Stars, what is there to say? There wasn’t much positive to look back on. Peter DeBoer was more focused on creating headlines in his press conferences than making the proper adjustments for his team. Only Jason Robertson and Tyler Seguin scored five-on-five goals in the series, and Roope Hintz, their top centre, refused to play in Game 3 because of a bone bruise. Almost forgot about Mikko Rantanen, which isn’t surprising because he was completely irrelevant in the series. The fact that Kasperi Kapanen was the highest-scoring Finn in the series says a lot. Their compete level didn’t even come close to what the Oilers were bringing every night.

Now, the Oilers seek redemption against the Florida Panthers team that crushed their dreams last season. Edmonton wasn’t ready last year, but this year feels different. Having home-ice advantage should play a role in this series, so be ready, Oilers fans. This should be a great series.