Oilers await winner of Stars-Jets in Conference Final
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The Edmonton Oilers wrapped up their second-round series with the Vegas Golden Knights Wednesday night, advancing to the Western Conference Final for the third time in four years.
Kasperi Kapanen scored the only goal of the game in overtime on a scramble in front of the net to give the Oilers a 1-0 win in Game 5 and a 4-1 series victory.
Edmonton will take on the winner of the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars, who are going head-to-head in their second-round tilt with Dallas leading 3-1 entering in Game 5 Thursday night in Winnipeg. The Oilers advanced to the Cup Final last year by beating the Stars in six games in the Western Conference Final. The Oilers and Stars have played series seven different times in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with Dallas having won five times. Winnipeg and Edmonton have only met once in the postseason, coming back in 2021 when Edmonton swept the Jets in the opening round.
The Oilers went 1-1-1 against the Jets during the regular season and 1-2 against the Stars.
The Jets dropped the opening game of their series against Dallas but bounced back with a 4-0 win in Game 2 where Connor Hellebuyck picked up his first shutout of this year's postseason.
But things shifted when the series went to Dallas as Hellebuyck allowed five goals in Game 3 en route to a 5-2 loss that put the Stars back on top in the series. Hellebuyck and the Jets were better in Game 4 but weren't good enough as the Stars won 3-1 to go up by the same score in the best-of-seven.
Winnipeg still hasn't won a game on the road during the postseason, falling to 0-5 away from the Canada Life Centre. In fact, the Jets haven't won a playoff road game since the opening-round in 2023.
"If I had the answer to why, we would have got one at some point," forward Nikolaj Ehlers said. "I think this (season) we've been really good on the road, and now we need to win at home and find a way here and hopefully make it to Game 6.
"So we need to find a way, simple as that."