The Edmonton Oilers battered the Dallas Stars by a 6-3 count in Game 5 at American Airlines Center to win the Western Conference Final in five games. Edmonton’s empathetic victory sets up the first Stanley Cup rematch since 2009. They will host the Florida Panthers in Game 1 at Rogers Place on Wednesday. This will be just the fifth rematch since the NHL expanded to twelve teams in 1967-68. The Panthers won last season’s series in seven games and will be playing for the Stanley Cup for the third consecutive year.
Early goals from Corey Perry, Mattias Janmark and Jeff Skinner, his first career playoff marker, put the Oilers up by three just 8:07 into the game. The Stars pulled within one on goals from Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz, but Connor McDavid replied with 5:32 left in the second to put Edmonton back up by two. Robertson scored again 38 seconds into third, only to see Evander Kane light the lamp 2:43 later to return the Stars to a two-goal hole. Kasperi Kapanen’s empty-netter with 11 seconds remaining completed the scoring.
Stanley Cup schedule
Game 1: Panthers at Oilers, Wednesday, June 4, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 2: Panthers at Oilers, Friday, June 6, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3: Oilers at Panthers, Monday, June 9, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 4: Oilers at Panthers, Thursday, June 12, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
* Game 5: Panthers at Oilers, Saturday, June 14, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
* Game 6: Oilers at Panthers, Tuesday, June 17, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
* Game 7: Panthers at Oilers, Friday, June 20, 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
Checkers take two-game lead over Laval
After winning Game 1 on Wednesday, the Charlotte Checkers took command of the AHL’s Eastern Conference Final with a 5-2 victory over the Laval Rocket at Place Bell. Captain Trevor Carrick scored a goal and added two assists for the Checkers. John Leonard, Michael Benning, Will Lockwood and Riley Bezeau also tallied. Assists were credited to Leonard, Kyle Criscuolo, Sandis Vilmanis and Rasmus Asplund. Kaapo Kähkönen stopped 23 of 25 shots to up his record in the playoffs to 8-2. Game 3 of the best-of-seven series will be Sunday afternoon in Charlotte at Bojangles Arena.