Connor McDavid scored a sensational goal and Zach Hyman padded the lead as the Edmonton Oilers held on for a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 at Rogers Place to advance to the Stanley Cup Final, where they will face our Florida Panthers.
It will be the Oilers first appearance in the final since 2006 when they lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games. Edmonton eliminated Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks before knocking out the favored Stars. The franchise has won the Stanley Cup fives times, with their last title coming in 1990.
As per usual, the teams met twice in the regular season with the Cats winning both times to sweep the season series.
In the first game on November 20, defenseman Niko Mikkola earned First Star honors for his first-ever multi-goal performance in the NHL as the Panthers skated to a 5-3 victory over the Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena. Cater Verhaeghe notched a power-play goal; Kevin Stenlund scored and added two assists; and Sam Bennett cliched it with an empty-netter. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves to get the win over Calvin Pickard. McDavid scored twice and Evander Kane also tallied for Edmonton.
Verhaeghe was the difference-maker in the second meeting on December 16, finishing the tilt with two goals and an assist as the Panthers romped to a 5-1 road win. Bennett, who added a pair of helpers, Aleksander Barkov and Brandon Montour also scored for Florida. Zach Hyman was the only Oiler to beat Bobrovsky (38 saves), who got the best of Pickard again.
That’s the regular season recap. A different beast awaits as the Oilers will try to end Canada’s 31-year drought while the Panthers will try to win their first-ever title after losing in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights last year.