Western Conference Final between Oilers, Stars poised to be great series

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2024-25 season by former NHL coaches and assistants who turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher.

In this edition, Paul MacLean, former coach of the Ottawa Senators and assistant with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs, looks at the Western Conference Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars.

I think this is going to be a great series. Anything that involves the Dallas Stars is going to be a good series.

They can be so good, and the Edmonton Oilers can be so good. They're both obviously good because they defeated two really good teams to get here.

It's going to be a real battle.

For me, Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger was challenged playing against Connor Hellebuyck and now he's going against Stuart Skinner or maybe Calvin Pickard.

Is his motivation going to be the same? He was really good against the Winnipeg Jets and made a difference in that series. That could be the difference in this series.

But you have those two guys in Edmonton, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and they can outscore all their problems.

In the last two games the Oilers got shutouts, so they found their defensive game. They found a new team identity, but they can still score.

The biggest thing for me, in the goaltending part of it, I think Dallas has an advantage.

At defenseman, with Mattias Ekholm not in it yet and the Stars getting Miro Heiskanen back, I think that's a little bit of an advantage for Dallas as well.

The forward group, I think it's a huge advantage with McDavid and Draisaitl, but can Edmonton's bottom-line guys play well?

The third line with Adam Henrique, Evander Kane and Connor Brown, how will they do against the line of Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson and Alexander Petrovic?

They have been so good for Dallas, so can Henrique, Kane and Brown match up with that line? I don't know. To me, that's where the battle is going to be, and it's going to be in the net.

Mikko Rantanen is also going to be a big factor. He's found a place where he likes to play, and he's really dominated.

Rantanen can be an equal to Draisaitl, but Dallas doesn't have a McDavid, so can McDavid push it over the line, so the goaltending doesn't become a problem?

That's what Connor can do and that's what Wayne Gretzky did for years: Make the difference and whatever the Oilers lacked in goaltending they made it up with however many goals they needed to score. That's been the Oilers since I remember playing them all those years ago and never defeating them. That's basically what it ended up being, Wayne would score enough that Grant Fuhr didn't have to let in anymore. Back then, 6-5 was a one-goal Stanley Cup Playoff game and it was a great game.

I do think it's going to be a heck of a series because there is really a lot of talent on the two teams. They both have really competitive guys and a healthy Heiskanen is a really big thing for Dallas.

Also, Skinner in the past two games, he really looked good. He really looked like whatever demons he had about this or that, he stopped being a soccer goalie and was just a hockey goalie. He was square to the puck, in his net, one cut and was over, not flopping all over the place, not doing any of that kind of stuff, and really looked in control of his game.

If that continues, that's going to put a lot of pressure on Oettinger. There's going to be a lot of pressure on Oettinger anyway, because of the offense that's coming at him, but if the other guy plays well, that's going to put pressure on him again and it's going to make a big difference in the series.

Both teams are experienced, nobody is green. They're all going in with expectations that they know it is going to be hard. They know it's going to be difficult.

It's going to end up being physical. The first four games are always physical. The last three are always less physical because there is a little bit more on the line.

It's going to be real physical out of the gate in Game 1 in Dallas on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC). They got a little extra rest in there, so both teams better be ready to go.

Another question is whether Kane is going to stay disciplined because he can get a little wild sometimes. He's been very good in the playoffs so far, but if things go the wrong way, he can sometimes go the wrong way with it and then you wonder who is going to follow him? Is Corey Perry going to follow him? Is Brown going to follow him? So, that can be a factor.

But when Kane is effective, he's unbelievably effective and has been in the playoffs at this point. His physicality, play at the net and determination to be around and be physical has been a really big lift for the Oilers to this point. He's been in control, and can he stay in control? Dallas has guys who can get you out of it and get you off your game.

Penalties are going to be a big part of it, they always are. It's the three-legged stool: Power play, penalty kill and goaltending. The biggest one is the goaltending and the second is penalty kill, which also involves goaltending.

Whichever team can establish something on the power play is going to be really important.