The Edmonton Oilers will play the Dallas Stars or Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference Final.
The Oilers advanced by defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 1-0 in overtime in Game 5 of the second round at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday.
The Oilers, who are the No. 3 seed from the Pacific Division, will begin the best-of-7 series on the road against either the Jets, the No. 1 seed in the West, or the Stars, the No. 2 seed in the Central Division. Dallas leads that series 3-1 with Game 5 on Thursday (9:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).
Connor McDavid leads the Oilers in the playoffs with 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) and Leon Draisaitl has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists). Evan Bouchard has 12 points (four goals, eight assists).
Calvin Pickard was 6-0 with a 2.84 goals-against average and .888 save percentage and led Edmonton to six straight wins before not playing Games 3, 4 and 5 after sustaining a lower-body injury. Pickard originally took over as the starter for Game 3 of the first round after Stuart Skinner was 0-2 with a 6.11 GAA and .810 save percentage, allowing 11 goals on 58 shots. Skinner is 2-1 with a 1.28 GAA, .944 save percentage and two shutouts straight shutouts in three games since.
The Oilers went 1-2-0 against the Stars. Zach Hyman had four points (three goals, one assist) and McDavid (one goal, two assists) and Bouchard (three assists) each had three points. Five players had two points each. Skinner was 1-2-0 with a 3.99 GAA and .841 save percentage. Pickard made three saves in relief in his only appearance.
Jason Robertson (four goals, two assists) and Roope Hintz (one goal, five assists) led the Stars against the Oilers with six points each, including a hat trick by Robertson in a 4-3 win in Edmonton on March 26. Matt Duchene (two goals, one assist), Mikko Rantanen (one goal, two assists) and Thomas Harley (three assists) each had three points.
Jake Oettinger was 2-1-0 with a 3.04 GAA and .912 save percentage. Backup Casey DeSmith didn't face the Oilers in the regular season.
Edmonton and Dallas have played seven times in the playoffs, with the Stars winning five of them. However, the Oilers won the Western Conference Final in six games last season. The teams met in the postseason six times in a seven-year span from 1997-2003. The Oilers also faced the Minnesota North Stars twice in the playoffs prior to their relocation to Dallas for the 1993-94 season, each winning once.
The Oilers have advanced to the conference final for the third time in the past four seasons. Last season, they lost to the Florida Panthers in seven games in the Stanley Cup Final.
Edmonton was 1-1-1 against Winnipeg this season. McDavid had three assists and Jeff Skinner had two goals. Corey Perry (one goal, one assist) and Darnell Nurse (two assists) each had two points. Skinner was 1-1-0 with a 3.69 GAA and .809 save percentage and Pickard was 0-0-1 with a 3.43 GAA and .818 save percentage.
Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey (one goal, three assists) each had four points against the Oilers. Kyle Connor (two goals) was the only Jets player with more than one goal. Connor Hellebuyck was 2-0-0 with a 1.49 GAA and .944 save percentage in two games and Eric Comrie allowed three goals on 38 shots in his only start, a 4-1 loss on April 13.
The Oilers and Jets have played once in the postseason; Winnipeg swept Edmonton in the first round in 2021.
