At the start of the Western Conference Finals I detailed three key areas that Edmonton would need to attack/take advantage of in order to beat the Dallas Stars.

1) Depth Needs To Keep Producing - Check

The Stars on paper have a formidable forward group and there was a reasonable argument they had the deepest forward core in the NHL. Edmonton had shown through the first two rounds that their depth could produce on a regular basis but Dallas on paper looked like a tougher test.

Against the Stars the Oilers had 14 different goal scorers. Dallas had 7. Seguin(2) and Robertson(4) were the only multi goal scorers for the Stars; Edmonton had McDavid(3), RNH(2), Perry(2), Hyman(2), Bouchard(2), Draisaitl(2), Kapanen(2).

Edmonton dominated the Stars for massive stretches of the series. Sportsnet showed a stat that after the first game of the playoffs the Stars led for 0% of the time. The Oilers entire roster found ways to produce and also played some phenomenal defense to shut down the Stars.

2) Shut Down The Top Line

The Dallas Stars this season reminded me heavily of last years Oilers; one elite line with the ability to cover for the deficiencies around the rest of the roster. Rantanen, Hintz, and Granlund were a force in the first two rounds of the playoffs and often could just score at will. Edmonton throttled that line along with the rest of the Stars but the real story was the statline on Rantanen. Rantanen's statline waws 0-3-3. He had only one primary assist. You can argue if this was because Rantanen didn't perform or because the Oilers excelled at shutting him down but I think you can say it's a bit of both.

3) Goaltending

Prior to the start of this series, Jake Oettinger had a 0,929SV% at 5 on 5 and a total SV% of 0.919%, tied for first among the final four with Frederick Andersen. Against the Oilers Oettinger had a 0.880SV% at 5 on 5 and a total SV% of 0.853%... maybe it's time to admit that the Oilers are just really good at scoring goals. They made Kuemper; a Vezina finalist, Hill; a Stanley Cup winning goalie, and Oettinger; arguably the second best American netminder all look well below average.

Stuart Skinner meanwhile just got better and better as the series went on and at times when the Stars showed life, Stu played at his best making some key saves. Skinner went from a guy I expected to be traded in the off-season to a Cup calibre goalie and I am so happy for the guy.

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Now we turn to the rematch I think most hockey fans wanted; Panthers and Oilers. Edmonton is looking to hoist their first Cup in the McDavid era while the Panthers are looking to win back to back Cups. The narratives are phenomenal. Make no mistake, the best two teams of the playoffs are playing for the Cup and it is going to be intense hockey.

Watching the Oilers win the West, they were clearly happy but it wasn't jubilation and elation like last season. This is a team who has their eyes on the real prize and look determined to win the toughest trophy in sports.

Early this week we will talk more about the series at hand.

Thanks for reading.

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