The Oilers were 1-2-0 against Dallas this season. They lost 4-3 in Edmonton on Nov. 2, won 4-3 in overtime in Dallas on Feb. 17, and were shut out 5-0 on April 3 in Dallas.
“We played three times throughout the year, we know that they’re a deep team obviously,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “That’s in a few days. We’ll process this and move on to them, but against anybody at this point you need everybody going and I think all series we had four lines rolling, six D going, two goalies when we needed two. So, I mean, it shows a lot that everybody can get the job done.”
This is the second time in three seasons Edmonton is going to the conference final. The Oilers were swept out of the 2022 Western Conference Final by the Colorado Avalanche, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.
This time around, Edmonton seems more prepared to battle for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final.
“I think some of the games we played against Colorado could have went the other way too,” Draisaitl said. “Definitely over the years you mature and you earn this situation and learn from those situations. Obviously, we’re looking to give it another shot and be more successful than last time.”
The Oilers were pushed by the Canucks, who did a good job defensively against their top offensive players, bolstered by their goalie Arturs Silovs filling in admirably for Thatcher Demko, who was out with an undisclosed injury.
Edmonton dominated territorially at times, but won all but one game in the series by one goal. McDavid expects the series against Dallas to be equally as tight.
“They’re a great team, too. It’s the conference finals, you’re going to have to play a great team and they certainly are,” McDavid said. “They’re deep, they’re as deep a team as you’re going to find in the NHL. Four lines, six [defensemen], they got a great goaltender. It will be a great test, but we’re looking forward to it.”
While the Oilers’ top two lines generated most of the offense against the Canucks, Edmonton did get timely contributions from its role players.
Defenseman Cody Ceci scored in Game 1 and opened the scoring in Game 7. Fourth-line forward Mattias Janmark scored a goal in a 3-2 loss in Game 5 and rookie Dylan Holloway scored a highlight-reel goal in Game 6.
“We’re a deep team, too,” McDavid said. “I know our top guys get a lot of attention, but we’re a real deep team. I thought we used all 12 forwards tonight, trying to win the third period, and all game long. Both in Games 6 and 7, I thought we used all 12 forwards and all 6 D-men, and we used both goalies in this series. So, we’re a deep team, just like Dallas is.”
The Oilers returned to Edmonton on Monday following the win and Knoblauch said preparation for Dallas would begin on the flight.
“We were concentrating on this series and I’m going to get my laptop on the plane and will be diving into Dallas right away,” Knoblauch said. “We don’t have quite as much time as we did to get ready for Vancouver (one week), which I think is good. I think we had too much time where we were overthinking things. We’ll get back at it, we’re playing some good hockey and I think it’s good for us.”
