The Edmonton Oilers grabbed the last conference finals spot by defeating the Vancouver Canucks 3–2 in a decisive match. Nine Finns will be seen in the conference finals.
In the hockey NHL, even the last conference finalist survived when the Edmonton Oilers beat the Vancouver Canucks 3–2 in the seventh game of the series.
Edmonton already took a 3–0 lead in the deciding match Cody Cecin, by Zach Hyman and by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with goals. Evan Bouchard passed the hits two.
The home team Vancouver rose to victory in the final set, when in the last ten minutes Conor Garland and Filip Hronek succeeded in scoring.
In the last five minutes, Vancouver still put pressure on Edmonton’s defensive zone, but failed to tie the game. Arturs Silovs gave the Canucks a chance to win by making 26 saves in the contest.
Edmonton won the series between the Canadian teams from a 2-3 deficit, and will next face Dallas in the finals of the Western Conference. The New York Rangers and Florida Panthers will meet in the Eastern Conference finals.
These Finns are chasing the Stanley Cup
A total of nine Finnish hockey players will play in this season’s conference finals. None of them have won the Stanley Cup before.
The most Finnish colors are seen in Dallas and Florida, where four Finns are chasing the championship in each.
The Edmonton Oilers are the only team in the conference finals without a single Finn playing.
Dallas Stars
Jani Hakanpää
Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell
Roope Hintz
Florida Panthers
Niko Mikkola
Alexander Barkov
Anton Lundell
Eetu Luostarinen
New York Rangers
Kaapo Kako
23.5. at 03:00 New York Rangers — Florida Panthers
24.5. at 03:30 Dallas Stars – Edmonton Oilers
This is how the conference semifinals went
The Eastern Conference regular season champion New York Rangers started the conference semifinals strong with three straight wins against the Carolina Hurricanes. After that, Carolina teased New York by grabbing two wins, but the Rangers finally ended the streak on the third try and advanced to the conference finals with a 4–2 victory.
Since the Rangers also won the entire NHL regular season, they have home court advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Florida Panthers, on the other hand, had a sticky start to their series when they suffered a 1-5 loss to the Boston Bruins in the opening game. After this Alexander Barkov the captained team won three in a row and finally won the series 4–2.
The Dallas Stars, who won the regular season in the Western Conference, suffered a loss to the Colorado Avalanche in the opening game of the second round of the playoffs, but then took the runner’s place in the series.
Dallas won the next three games, and finally ended the streak in the sixth meeting between the teams with a 4–2 victory.
The Edmonton Oilers played their way to the conference finals through the longest streak, as the series against the Vancouver Canucks stretched to a seventh game. The first five games ended with a one-goal difference, until Edmonton pulled away with a must-win in the sixth game to win 5–1.
In the decisive match, Edmonton succeeded in the away court and dominated the Canadian teams with a 4–3 victory.