Ready for a rematch: Stars prepared to get going vs. Oilers in Western Conference Final

Emotion has played a big part in the Stars’ run to the 2025 Western Conference Final, and it only will get dialed up from here.

After eliminating deadline pickup Mikko Rantanen’s former team, the Colorado Avalanche, in the First Round, and surviving an energetic series against Presidents’ Trophy winning Winnipeg in the Second Round, Dallas now gets the team that eliminated it from the playoffs last season – the Edmonton Oilers. That should ensure plenty of motivation for the lads in Victory Green.

"It's huge. We want to beat them this time, we don't want to lose two in a row against the same team,” said defenseman Miro Heiskanen. “We want to beat them and get to the final for sure."

Dallas had a 2-1 series lead on the Oilers in 2024 but then lost Games 4-6 en route to being eliminated. The Game 6 defeat was especially disheartening, as the Stars had a 34-10 advantage in shots on goal and lost 2-1. The Oilers then went on to lose in the Stanley Cup Final in seven games to Florida. All of that said, coach Pete DeBoer believes this is a new year and these two teams are very different. Yes, the Oilers have two of the top players in the league in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but they’ve shuffled a good deal of their lineup.

“Every year’s different,” DeBoer said. “They’re a different team this year. You know, I think a lot like Colorado, they’re a better team this year. They’re a deeper team this year than they were last year. You see they’re getting scoring from a lot of places other than McDavid and Draisaitl, and they still have that element, obviously, every night. So I think it’s a lot like the Colorado series, where we can look back at last year, but I think this is a different, better version that we’re playing. And I believe we’re a better version of ourselves from last year, too. It’s going to be a great test.”

The Stars are quite different. In addition to adding Rantanen at the trade deadline and watching him become the leading scorer in the playoffs, the Stars also acquired defenseman Cody Ceci (who spent the last three seasons with Edmonton) and forward Mikael Granlund in a February trade with San Jose. And when you consider the fact the Stars also signed Ilya Lyubushkin in the offseason, called up Lian Bichsel and Alexander Petrovic from the minors and have battled adversity all season, this roster is actually a lot different.

"I think we've learned a lot the last two years,” goalie Jake Oettinger said. “That's all we wanted after we lost last year was this opportunity. The fact that we get to play Edmonton again makes it even better. I think we've all learned a lot. The young guys, like [Thomas Harley], Wyatt Johnston\], \[[Jason Robertson], myself, the guys that hadn't had any experience, we have all the experience in the world now. It's up to us as a group to take that next step and I think we should feel great about what we've done with the adversity we've faced. I think our best hockey is yet to come."

Harley has seen his growth curve change when he had to step in and fill Heiskanen’s minutes, and he is now viewed as one of the top defensemen in the NHL. With Heiskanen coming back, Dallas could get a boost from his improvement and Harley’s increased performance. Likewise, in the forward group, Robertson missed the First Round with a lower-body injury, but played all six games against Winnipeg and is rounding into form. Seguin missed over half of the regular season and he still is getting back to his normal level, as well, after two rounds of the playoffs.

“I think we’ve got a lot left,” DeBoer said. “I’ve said it here, I think we’ve got something special going on. We’re going to have to prove it again. We’ve been to this spot the last two years and haven’t taken the next step, so that’s the challenge.”

Dallas lost to Vegas two seasons ago in the Conference Final, and the Golden Knights won the Cup. The loss to Edmonton left a bit of a bitter taste because they truly believed they could and should have won that series. The Stars went 0-for-14 on the power play in six games, and that was a key stat. This year, Dallas ranks third at 30.8 percent on the power play during the playoffs, while Edmonton is killing penalties at a 66.7 percent rate.

“It’s probably a flip-the-script of last year,”” DeBoer said. “Their 5-on-5 numbers are better and our special-team numbers are better. I think it was the opposite last year. I don’t put a lot of stock in that. We’re going to assume they’re going to have a great power play with the players they have and a really good penalty kill like they did last year in the playoffs against us. I’m assuming ours are going to be really good again and I think it’s going to come down to 5-on-5.”

That’s just part of the daily strategy that will take place. Dallas has used seven defensemen in the past three games to help give a safety net for Heiskanen’s return and ease him back into the lineup. He played 23:40 Saturday and appears close to normal, but DeBoer said the playoffs present different challenges.

“We’re going to talk about it,” DeBoer said. “When I say he’s confident to play, is he comfortable enough to play with five all night [if we lose someone]? Is he comfortable to play five all night if it goes double overtime and he has to play 35-40 minutes? I mean, that’s the thing. It’s not just in a box, so there’s a lot of factors that go into that stuff.”

Which should make for a very interesting series. DeBoer was asked if he “wanted” this matchup all along.

“I don’t know if you ever ask to play Draisaitl and McDavid,” he said. “But we knew going in, what a gauntlet of teams - Winnipeg’s the Presidents’ Trophy-winning team, Colorado everyone had as maybe the next-best team in the league. And now we get Edmonton, who everyone has said has probably been the best team in the playoffs so far. I’m not sure we’re wishing to play anybody. I’m not surprised we’re getting another elite team and a really tough test.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re ready to go,” he added. “But the way this has rolled out sure hasn’t been easy.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.