Oilers, Panthers To Meet For The Stanley Cup

Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup final with a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Sunday, winning the best-of-seven Western Conference final in six games.

Zach Hyman also scored and Evan Bouchard had a pair of assists for the Oilers, who will face the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup championship series — marking Edmonton’s first appearance in a Cup final since 2006, when it fell in Game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner made 34 saves for the win, giving him a 4-0 record in potential series-clinching games in his career.

Mason Marchment replied for the Stars who lost out in the conference final for the second consecutive season. Dallas outshot Edmonton 35-10 in the game.

The Oilers sent their first shot of the game past Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger on the power play 4:17 into the first period, and it was a beauty. McDavid did a toe drag and stepped inside a pair of defenders before sending a backhand into the net for his fifth goal of the post-season. Defenceman Bouchard picked up his 20th assist of the playoffs on the goal.

The Oilers power play struck for the fourth time in its last five attempts after failing to get a goal in the first four games. With 4:18 remaining in the opening frame, McDavid dropped a pass back to Hyman in an open lane and he picked the top corner for his playoff-leading 14th goal.

The Stars came close to getting one past Edmonton starter Skinner when Roope Hintz hit a post with eight minutes to play in the second period. Dallas outshot the Oilers 21-8 through 40 minutes.

Dallas made it a one-goal game with 10:42 to play in the third period as Tyler Seguin was able to send a pass from behind the net out front to Marchment, who notched his third goal of the post-season.

The Stars threw everything they had at the Oilers in a furious final 10 minutes, but Edmonton was somehow able to hang on.

Edmonton went 16:13 between shots on goals in the second and third periods.

NOTES

Dallas inserted AHL scoring leader Mavrik Bourque in place of fellow forward Ty Dellandrea. It was just Bourque’s second game, having made his NHL debut on April 6. … Edmonton also flipped a pair of forwards as Derek Ryan subbed in for Sam Carrick. … McDavid became just the sixth player in NHL history to hit 30 points in more than one playoffs. Preceding him to the feat were Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Mario Lemieux and Nikita Kucherov. … Edmonton sat in 31st out of 32 teams in the NHL standings in November with a 3-9-1 record and fired head coach Jay Woodcroft. They then went 46-18-5 the rest of the way under new coach Kris Knoblauch. … Dallas forward Joe Pavelski played in his 33rd potential elimination game. Only four skaters in NHL history have played in more.

UP NEXT

The Stanley Cup final begins Saturday in Florida.

(Canadian Press)