GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Stars 3 (Game 5) 

DALLAS, TX – Here we go again, Oil Country.

We are heading back to the Stanley Cup Final.

The Edmonton Oilers are back-to-back Western Conference champions after eliminating the Dallas Stars in five games with a 6-3 victory in Game 5 at American Airlines Center on Thursday, winning the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl to secure their spot in the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year.

"It's fun to be in this situation and have the opportunity to go back to where we were last year," Darnell Nurse said. "As a group, I think we believed in ourselves from the start of the playoffs, no matter how things were going and no matter what was going on. It's a group that's very resilient and has a high belief in each other, and we've earned ourselves an opportunity to go back to the Cup Final. A lot of work still to be done."

Edmonton will rematch the defending champion Florida Panthers for the chance at lifting their franchise's sixth Stanley Cup.

"We should definitely be proud of what we've accomplished," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We should feel happy about what's gone on, and obviously, what's on our mind hasn't been just to be the best team out of the west. All summer we weren't thinking about that. We were thinking about the ultimate prize."

The Oilers roared to a 3-0 lead in the opening eight minutes of the first period, notching three quick goals from forwards Corey Perry, Mattias Janmark and lineup returnee Jeff Skinner before the Stars scored twice through Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz on both sides of the first intermission to make it 3-2.

Captain Connor McDavid scored the eventual game-winning goal with a ridiculous breakaway move to beat Dallas netminder Casey DeSmith, who made 17 saves on 20 shots after he relieved Jake Oettinger during a Dallas timeout in the first period after he allowed two goals on his first two shots.

Jason Robertson made it 4-3 with his second goal of the contest only 38 seconds into the final frame before winger Evander Kane restored the two-goal lead under three minutes later with a lucky bounce from behind the net that went off defenceman Esa Lindell and into the back of the Dallas net.

Kasperi Kapanen added a late empty-netter to seal Edmonton's spot in the Stanley Cup Final.

"We found a way and we've gotten better each game and each day," Corey Perry said. "We've talked about getting better every day, and I think we've found some good things in our game and we'll continue to grow on those."

McDavid was presented the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and touched the trophy after he elected not to touch it after last year's Western Conference Final victory over the Stars.

Edmonton will have home-ice advantage in this year's Stanley Cup Final and will open up the series on Wednesday night at Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

From the moment they were given their first power play less than two minutes into the contest, it was looking like the Oilers were going to end the Stars' season by running them right out of their own building.

You could say right 'Otter' their own building.

The first period of Game 5 on Thursday wasn't even nine minutes old by the time the Oilers had built themselves a 3-0 lead, chasing netminder Jake Oettinger with two goals on their opening two shots with the help of their tremendous depth that's been a driving force in these playoffs to get them within one victory of advancing to their second straight Stanley Cup Final.

"We're deep and we're a different team," Corey Perry said. "There are different players in here and a different feel, but you still have to go out and you still have to do the right things, and everybody has to pull on the same rope and continue to pull."

With Zach Hyman out for the remainder of the playoffs, the net-front role for the Oilers on the power play now belongs to veteran Corey Perry, who's proven as recently as Tuesday's Game 5 victory in Edmonton with a goal on the man advantage and an assist that he can still make things happen at 40 years old.

After rookie Mavrik Bourque didn't manage his stick in the neutral zone before it caught Evan Bouchard under the chin for a high-sticking penalty in the opening two minutes, the Stars left the front of their own net unchecked for Perry to take an open pass from Connor McDavid in the corner and redirect his effort under the left arm of Oettinger for an early 1-0 lead.

By scoring his seventh goal of the postseason, Perry set a new NHL record for goals in a postseason by a player aged 39 or older.

The Oilers doubled their lead almost four-and-a-half minutes later through another former Dallas player when the Stars left Viktor Arvidsson open at the far side of the blueline on a change, leading to Arvidsson finding his fellow Swedish countryman Mattias Janmark with the pass as he swooped over the blueline.

On his partial breakaway, Janmark moved the puck to his forehand and fired a low effort five-hole on Oettinger that snuck through to make it 2-0 for the Oilers with his third goal and fourth point of the 2025 playoffs. It was the 15th postseason goal of Janmark's career and his seventh as an Oiler, and he now needs just one more goal to match his postseason career high of four that he's hit twice – once as an Oiler (2024) and once as a Golden Knight (2021).

The Stars promptly took a timeout, where Head Coach Pete DeBoer appeared animated on the bench when pulling Jake Oettinger in favour of Casey DeSmith after the elite USA netminder allowed two goals on two shots.

Edmonton has seemed to strike gold with every lineup move they've made in these playoffs, and Jeff Skinner getting on the board with his first career playoff goal less than a minute later continued that trend after he made it 3-0 on a wild scramble around the Dallas crease.

With the Stars looking out of sorts with five players below the hashmarks trying to track a loose puck around the blue paint, the biscuit fell to Skinner as he came out from behind the net before he fired a quick shot along the ice that managed to sneak its way under DeSmith for his first career playoff goal in only his second postseason game.

Skinner filled the roster spot that Zach Hyman vacated because of his injury after last playing in Game 1 of the First Round against Los Angeles, and now has points in both career postseason games he's played in (1G, 1A).

The Oilers were on their way to having 12 players record a point, while Skinner's goal made him the 19th Oilers skater to score a goal this postseason.

"We talked about the depth of our team, and that's what it takes at this time of the year," Nurse said. "Obviously, every team that you play is playing at an elite level to get to this point in the season. There are only two teams left now, but everyone has stepped up, and it doesn't matter what role each guy plays. Everyone's accepted it and put their best foot forward, and it's led to some pretty good performances by our group."

With the Stars' backs against the wall down 3-0 after just over eight minutes and facing elimination in the series, the Oilers didn't want to give them any openings, but a failed clearance by Brett Kulak a few minutes later allowed Dallas to get on the board with a break.

After Kulak couldn't get it up the boards and out, Wyatt Johnston pushed it into the middle for winger Jason Robertson to pick up the puck and go far side on Stuart Skinner to cut the lead to 3-1 with 11:40 remaining in the opening period.

After being goalless in the first two rounds, Robertson scored goals in three straight games during the Western Conference Final.

The Oilers earned another power play just over a minute later that saw the Stars continue to press despite being shorthanded, with defenceman Thomas Harley having his golden one-timer opportunity kicked away by Stuart Skinner with a desperation right-skate save to preserve the 3-1 lead.

SECOND PERIOD

With the Oilers needing a goal to quiet down the Stars' heavy push that began in the first period with Robertson's response, who else did you expect to put the team on his back and make it happen – in sublime fashion, of course – other than captain Connor McDavid?

"I've always said it – that's why he's the best player in the world," Corey Perry said. "And we have two of those guys on our team. They're right at the top, and they want to make a difference. They want to be that guy, and they don't shy away from it, and you see it out there."

Kulak was forced into a hooking penalty on Tyler Seguin nearly two minutes into the frame when he was able to get the inside track off the zone entry, leading to the first Stars' power play that they converted by Roope Hintz when a block by Vasily Podkolzin allowed Johnston to find him wide open in the slot.

After making it 3-2, the Stars were all over the Oilers for a multi-minute stretch that saw them hold extended possession in Edmonton's zone before earning another power play on an interference penalty assessed to returnee Mattias Ekholm, who was playing his first game since Apr. 11 during the regular season.

Edmonton killed off the infraction to their Swedish blueliner as Dallas continued to pour on the pressure to try and keep their season alive. After the Viking got back on the ice for an even-strength shift and made a vital block that sent Connor McDavid racing up the ice for a contested breakaway, he did all the rest.

McDavid was lurking behind the Dallas defence after coming onto the ice while the Stars entered the offensive zone before he took off up the ice in pursuit of Ekholm's block that found its way into the neutral zone. After winning a foot race with Roope Hintz to the loose puck, the Oilers captain protected it with his forehand while sitting on his edges before moving it quickly back to his forehand to slide it home around DeSmith to restore the two-goal lead at 4-2.

"It was huge," Draisaitl said. All things considered, my hockey brain goes to that being probably one of the nicest goals I've seen him score. Just the whole situation, how it played out and who he had coming up behind him, that's a big-time play. Of course, there's only one player in the world who can do that at that moment, and we're very fortunate to have him on our side."

"He takes off and they got a push going with that power-play goal, and he puts that in the back of the net and kind of quiets their bench a little bit and calms everything down," Perry added. "Connor can do that. That's a Connor McDavid kind of play, and that's just the player he is."

THIRD PERIOD

In the immortal words of Zach Hyman: "I know we can get back here."

Here. We. Go. Oil Country.

Back to the Stanley Cup Final we go.

"Excited, obviously," Corey Perry said, who'll play in his fifth Stanley Cup Final in the last six years. "I've said this throughout the whole playoffs that this is why we play. This is what we do. These are things you dream about. Some guys in here haven't been there, some guys in here know the feeling, and we said last year right after Game 7 that we'd be back. We'll see what we can do."

Despite Robertson's second goal of the game just 38 seconds into the third period to make it 4-3, Evander Kane got a lucky break when he scored off defenceman Esa Lindell from below the goal line just under three minutes later before Kasperi Kapanen added an empty-netter late for the 6-3 final.

The Oilers kept it to a low-event period with only nine shots, outshooting the Stars 5-4 while pushing their offence to the perimeter to protect the blue paint of Stuart Skinner's crease over the final 20 minutes.

"They had their pushes," Nurse said. "They came out on the first shift and made a play there to start off the period, but we didn't panic. We stuck to our game, and it's another game where we settled in and kept a lot of the offence to the outside. There was battles and plays to be made, we stepped up. So we got to continue to do that and have another opportunity to do it for another series.

The Oilers earned the series victory 4-2 to win the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl as winners of the Western Conference, with McDavid accepting the trophy on behalf of the Oilers and electing to touch it after losing last year's Stanley Cup Final after he chose not to place his hands upon the award.

"Pretty obvious, I think," McDavid said. "Don't touch it last year? Don't win. Touch it this year? Hopefully, we win."

The Oilers will rematch the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final, who eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes in five games on Wednesday, but this group doesn't care who they have to face to make up for last year's Game 7 loss.

"Quite honestly, it doesn't matter when you're in this position. You just want to give yourself a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup, and it so happens that there's going to be a rematch," Nurse said. "I think for us, we're worried about our team game and where we can be at and the level that we can play at. They're a really good team and present a good challenge. We have a lot of belief in our group."