The Dallas Stars are back in the Western Conference Finals for the second straight season after defeating the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 in their second-round series.
They will face their first Canadian opponent of the postseason, when they take on the Edmonton Oilers, who won their second-round matchup against the Vancouver Canucks in seven games.
The Stars, as Western Conference regular season champions, have home field advantage, meaning they will host Games 1 and 2, as well as Games 5 and 7 (if necessary) at the American Airlines Center .
Game 1 is scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 pm CT.
Here are five things you should know about the Stars’ third-round matchup:
The best player in the world
In each round of this postseason, the Stars have had a bigger challenge on their hands in terms of individual talent.
After getting past Jack Eichel in the first round, the Stars managed to limit Hart Trophy finalist Nathan MacKinnon in the second round as he only had two goals and three assists in the series.
Now they will have to face the best player in the world.
Connor McDavid finished third in the league in the regular season in points (132) and ranks second in the league in points this postseason (21), behind only teammate Leon Draisaitl (24).
McDavid is a Hart Trophy finalist this year, a three-time Hart Trophy winner, a five-time Art Ross Trophy winner and a seven-time NHL All-Star.
The Stars have used their defenseman Chris Tanev, with depth and blocking, to limit elite players so far in the postseason. They limited McDavid to just one assist in three regular-season games, but they’ll have to find a way to limit him for a best-of-seven series.
Old rivalry renewed
Between 1997 and 2003, the Stars and Oilers met six times in the playoffs. The teams have not played a postseason series in the 20 years since.
Dallas holds a 5-1 all-time lead against Edmonton in the playoffs, beating them in two of the seasons they advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999 and 2000.
Both teams have deep postseason histories, as the Stars are in the conference finals for the seventh time and the Oilers are that deep for the 11th time. However, they have only reached the conference finals twice since the turn of the century: in 2006 and 2022.
Edmonton has won five Stanley Cups, all within a seven-year span between 1984 and 1990.
Goalie advantage for Dallas
As in the last round, the Stars enter another series with an advantage by having Jake Oettinger in goal.
After goaltending battles each night in the Las Vegas series, Oettinger was the better netminder compared to Colorado’s Alexandar Georgiev in the final round. Dallas will now face an Edmonton team that has had some problems in goaltending.
Edmonton starter Stuart Skinner has struggled in his first nine playoff games, posting an .881 save percentage and a 3.36 goals-against average. Both numbers are the worst among goaltenders still in the playoffs.
Skinner was benched before Game 4, when Edmonton turned to Calvin Pickard to make his first NHL playoff start. Skinner was pulled in the second period of Game 3 after allowing four goals on 15 shots.
Pickard has a .915 save percentage and a 2.21 goals-against average in his three playoff games, but was eventually replaced again by Skinner for Games 6 and 7. Skinner earned wins in the final two games of the series. , but only faced 32 shots combined. .
Oettinger, on the other hand, has been improving as the playoffs have progressed. He has a 2.09 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage, both impressive in his first 13 starts.
Special teams threat becomes even greater
Throughout the Colorado series, special teams determined the winner in the first five games and nearly cost Dallas its life in Game 6, as the Avalanche’s only goal that night came on the power play.
The Stars had success on penalties during Games 2-4, but once Colorado took advantage of the man advantage, it was lethal.
Edmonton will be an even bigger challenge in that regard. His power play was connecting more than 40% of the time just a few days ago, but fell to 36.8% entering Game 7. That still leads the league this postseason. He also had the best penalty kill heading into Game 7 at 90.6%.
Dallas ranks 11th in the playoffs in penalty kills (69.2%) and fourth in power plays (29%).
The Stars served the fewest penalty minutes in the league in the regular season and will need to maintain that level in the series against the Oilers to keep them off the power play.
Star-controlled regular season series
Regular season results haven’t meant much to Dallas so far in the postseason, as they’ve only gone 1-3-3 against Vegas and Colorado in their seven regular season meetings. However, Dallas seems to have Edmonton somewhat figured out.
The Stars went 2-0-1 in their three meetings and capped the regular-season series with an impressive 5-0 victory on national television in April, which set a franchise record as the Stars extended their winning streak. victories at that time to eight. games.
Dallas also limited Draisaitl to two assists and McDavid to one in the regular season.
If the Stars can carry that game plan into the playoffs, at least for the Edmonton Stars, it could bode well for them in a best-of-seven series.
On X/Twitter: @Lassimak
Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow @Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.