PREVIEW: Oilers at Stars (Game 1)

The Edmonton Oilers visit American Airlines Center on Wednesday night for Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 6:00 p.m. MDT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED.

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Game previews during the 2025 Oilers playoffs are presented by Pizza 73 🍕

PREVIEW: Oilers at Stars (Game 1)

DALLAS, TX – Aligned with the Stars once again.

After meeting at this stage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year, the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars will face off again in the Western Conference Final, setting the stage for a highly-contested rematch that starts on Wednesday night with Game 1 of the series at American Airlines Center.

The Oilers won last year's matchup in six games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Florida Panthers in Game 7. Edmonton is back in the Conference Final for the third time in four years following their five-game victory over Vegas, while Dallas is into Round 3 for the third year in a row and fourth time in six tries after getting past the Presidents' Trophy-winning Jets in six games.

While both teams have a handful of new players who've helped them return to this stage of the playoffs, the cores of the Stars and the Oilers have remained intact as they get set to renew pleasantries with a rematch in the Conference Final, featuring many of the same philosophies and styles they saw in 2024.

"I guess it's different," Connor McDavid said on Tuesday. "A few different players are playing in the series, but in a lot of ways, it's very similar – same coach, same system, and it's the same thing for us. We haven't changed much. They haven't changed much. It will be about who has a better couple of weeks here."

"Definitely deja vu," Stuart Skinner added. "It's a great opportunity for us to come back here and do our thing. We're obviously really excited to be here. We've been really enjoying ourselves and working hard to prepare ourselves in the best possible way for this series."

The Stars have the NHL's highest scorer of the 2025 playoffs on their roster, who wasn't a part of their six-game loss to the Oilers last season. Mikko Rantanen lit up the first two rounds for 19 points (nine goals) in 13 games, followed closely by Connor McDavid (17) and Leon Draisaitl (16) this postseason.

Along with Evan Bouchard, the quartet makes up the four players who've recorded five multi-point games in these playoffs. But collectively, both the Oilers and Stars would pick out their depth scoring as the main reason why they've been able to get back to the Final Four this postseason.

Of the 14 forwards for the Oilers who've suited up for at least a game in these playoffs, 13 of them have been able to find the scoresheet, with Jeff Skinner being the only outlier after Kasperi Kapanen scored the OT winner in a 1-0 victory over the Golden Knights in Edmonton's clinching Game 5 last series.

"Especially at this time of year, that's what wins you hockey games, right?" Draisaitl said. "It hasn't really been our top guys in these playoffs. Our depth has won us games for the most part, and they've carried us and given us a chance to win every night. You need that at this time of year."

On the other side, Dallas has received goals from 10 of their 14 forwards after having eight 20-goal scorers during the regular season. Matt Duchene and Jason Robertson have yet to find their scoring touch in these playoffs, but the Stars also receive a boost from the return of Miro Heiskanen to the blueline.

Heiskanen missed the final 32 regular-season games and the first 10 postseason games with a knee injury before returning for Game 4 of the Second Round. The Finn played 23:40 in Game 6, looking like his confident self and finishing the series with two assists on their top defensive pairing with Thomas Harley.

"I think they had eight 20-goal scorers, so they score by committee. Everybody up and down the lineup," McDavid said. "Obviously, Rantanen's playing great, their goalie's playing great, and they got a tough back end. The list goes on and on of things they do well. They're a good team. It'll be a great test."

Edmonton's star players know they'll have to get their team's power play going on the road to have success against the Stars, having gone 0-for-14 with the man advantage and having yet to score away from Rogers Place in the 2025 playoffs. The Oilers have scored just two PPGs over their last seven games.

McDavid said that while it's been frustrating that the power play hasn't been able to factor into these playoffs, there's encouragement knowing that when they do figure it out, it's going to be a major difference for them with their already formidable depth and team goaltending led by Stuart Skinner.

"I didn't think we generated enough last series," McDavid said. "I thought the Vegas PK was tough, and we didn't really figure them out, which we normally do over the course of a series. We normally figure the kill out, so we didn't find a way to do that. But thankfully, it didn't need to be a factor. It'll need to be a factor moving forward for sure, and I would expect the power play to get it going."

The duel between Stuart Skinner and Jake Oettinger between the pipes will be intriguing to watch, considering their history from last year's WCF and that both netminders are coming off strong finishes to the Second Round.

Skinner recorded two straight shutouts to help close out the Vegas series after allowing 15 goals in his previous three playoff games, and is 4-2 with a 1.91 GAA and .922 SV% over six career playoff games against Dallas. Oettinger is 8-5 with a 2.47 GAA and a .919 SV% in 13 games during the 2025 playoffs, having faced the most shots of any goaltender with 394.

Oilers winger Corey Perry, who's tied with Leon Draisaitl for the team lead in goals (five), could prove to be Edmonton's 'X-Factor' in this series with his ability to cause havoc around the crease. Edmonton has proved they can win games in different ways this postseason, and Dallas is going to put that to the test.

"Just continue to chip away at it," Draisaitl said. "He's a good goalie. There are lots of good goalies left playing right now, so you're going to run into goalies that are feeling themselves. It's just a matter of something that we've done really well in the playoffs, creating some confusion and havoc in front of him. He's been seeing it, so I think we've got many guys willing to go there and make it dirty and hard for him."