It is a well-rested, eager group of Edmonton Oilers who head into the NHL Western Conference final confident they will repeat their 2024 series victory over the Dallas Stars.
“There’s lots of things going to be similar,” forward Leon Draisaitl said of meeting the Stars for the second straight conference final. “They know how we want to play and we know how they want to play. It’s going to come down to execution.
“It’s going to be a challenge. They’re a good defensive team, lots of good defensive players.”
When asked about the Oilers’ defence, Draisaitl bristled just a bit, assuring reporters that the team is ready to handle the Stars in the series that begins in Dallas on Wednesday night.
Without even mentioning the back-to-back shutout victories the team posted in finishing off the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round, Draisaitl said the Oilers are “very confident” in their defence.
“We’ve been a very good defensive team for years now,” said the team’s playoff goal-scoring leader. “Are we going to give up a couple more goals than we want to now and then? Of course, every team does. It’s too hard to shut out every team or just give up one or two goals.
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“We’re a good, structured defensive team.”
Head coach Kris Knoblauch attributed the team’s much improved defensive play, despite the absence of Mattis Ekholm and a number of roster changes, to subtle adjustments and aggressive shot blocking.
“There were a lot of blocked shots,” Knoblauch said of the team’s shutout victories against the Golden Knights. “And also when you’re getting saves you forget about the mistakes.”
One of the key defencemen was Darrell Nurse who agreed the Oilers have played “really well defensively” in the playoffs.
“But there’s always room for improvement when it comes to limiting chances,” he added. “Obviously now with a different opponent they’re going to present different looks and different challenges.”
Which means, he added, the Oilers will have to continue to elevate their defensive game. Or at least keep it “at the same level we had in finishing off Vegas.”
One of the key challenges facing the Oilers, especially defensively, is Dallas forward Mikko Rantanen — who leads all playoff scorers with nine goals and 19 points.
“He’s a great player, very dynamic, very dangerous, but no different from lots of players we’ve faced,” Draisaitl said. “We have to be aware of him, time and space, all the things that you do when you prepare for any team’s top-end guys.”
But, added Nurse, the Dallas offence is a lot more than just the recently acquired Rantanen.
“Obviously, he’s a special player, but their team has a lot of other threats up and down their lineup. They have a team that can score throughout their lineup so every time you’re on the ice, no matter what line you’re out there against, you have to pay attention to detail defensively.”
Monday’s practice saw Ekholm participate in his first full team practice since April 11.
He’s been ruled out for the first two games and Knoblauch said he was “optimistic” the Swede could return at some point during the series.
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