The Edmonton Oilers beat Dallas 3–1 and advanced to the Stanley Cup finals.
The Edmonton Oilers won five Stanley Cups between 1983 and 1990, among others Jari Kurrin starred.
Since then, the legendary Canadian team has reached the finals only once, when in 2006 the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Oilers in the final series with a 4–3 victory.
Now Edmonton is just one victory away from the finals and causing a bad disappointment to perhaps the biggest champion candidate of the Western Conference, the Dallas Stars.
Edmonton beat Dallas 3-1 early on Saturday Finnish time and leads the final series of the Western Conference with a 3-2 win. For Edmonton, the Stanley Cup finals are just a win away.
In the match series, neither team had scored a single overtime goal before the fifth meeting. Now Edmonton became the hero with two overtime goals Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
The opening set had been played at 14:09, when Nugent-Hopkins shoveled a defender in front of the goal by Evan Bouchard shot the loose puck into the net.
Dallas quarterback Miro Heiskanen has played amazing playoffs and even became a candidate for the most valuable player in the playoffs.
This time, at the beginning of the second set, Heiskanen had a fatal work accident. Heiskanen tried to dislodge the puck from his own end with his knuckles, but lifted it directly into the stands. So kudos to Heiskanen for delaying the game.
Only 16 seconds had time to gain superiority, when Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl freed up Nugent-Hopkins to score. That hit ended up being the game-winning goal.
Swedish defender Philip Broberg charged with a ferocious line shot 3-0, after a good five minutes of the second period had been played.
The 22-year-old Broberg played the 12th playoff game of his career and only his second playoff game until this spring. The goal was Broberg’s first in the playoffs and his third overall in the NHL.
In the third period, Dallas’ offense was only enough for one goal, when Wyatt Johnston reduced in time 54.09.
The Oilers took the shots on goal 26–20, and according to MoneyPuck, the goal expectation was 3.26–1.99.
Bouchard, 24, became the third-fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach 50 career playoff points. He needed 45 matches for that. Bobby Orr reached 50 playoff points in 39 games and Brian Leetch In 41 matches.
In his 17 playoff games this season, Bouchard has caught 6+19=25 hits.
Only Edmonton’s super forwards are in the points market above Connor McDavid (4+25=29) and Draisaitl (10+17=27).
Miro Heiskanen is second in the defensemen’s points market with 16 power points.
Miro Heiskanen clocked again clearly the hardest time of the match, 27:17. Esa Lindell played the second most in the match, 22.49, and Roope Hintz 6:48 p.m. The Finns did not accumulate power points.
After the match, the topic of conversation was the head coach of Dallas By Pete DeBoer quick answer at the press conference.
Editor of the Dallas Morning News Tim Cowlishaw marveled at Dallas’ weak second half.
– As much as you root for the Oilers, don’t you think your lackluster second half was the reason you fell behind and didn’t really put any pressure on them?
DeBoer responded that there are always things that can be done better.
– You can sit here and question the character of our team if you want. You haven’t been here all year. I haven’t seen you, DeBoer continued.
– I’m not questioning your character…, Cowlishaw tried.
– Yes, you do. I’m not going to do that. You can write whatever the hell you want, DeBoer acknowledged.
Several journalists wrote on social media that they have never seen similar nervousness from DeBoer.
The teams will meet next time early on Monday Finnish time. Next up is Edmonton.
The champion of the Western Conference will face the winner of the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup finals, where the Florida Panthers lead the New York Rangers 3–2. Florida hosts the Rangers early Sunday, Finnish time.