Stars brace for Oilers, McDavid in Western Conference Final

FRISCO, Texas -- As Pete DeBoer prepares for the Western Conference Final, the Dallas Stars coach sees a lot of similarities to the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Stars will face the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 at American Airlines Center on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC) after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in seven games in the first round and the Colorado Avalanche in six in the second.

“I think it’s a little bit of a hybrid of both those teams,” DeBoer said at the Stars practice facility Tuesday. “We’re going to have to pull all the things we did well against those two opponents. I think that will apply. But that’s easier said than done, and you’ve also got the best player in the world to deal with.”

Center Connor McDavid and Edmonton’s elite talent will be a challenge.

The Oilers have the top four scorers in the playoffs: center Leon Draisaitl with 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists), McDavid with 21 points (two goals, 19 assists), defenseman Evan Bouchard with 20 points (five goals, 15 assists) and forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with 16 points (four goals, 12 points), each in 12 games.

They also have the top goal-scorer in the playoffs: forward Zach Hyman, who has 11 goals in 12 games.

But the Stars just overcame the last two Stanley Cup champions.

The Golden Knights defend the way the Oilers do, keeping their defensemen close to the net. They have center Jack Eichel and company. The Avalanche have three of the best players in the NHL in center Nathan MacKinnon, forward Mikko Rantanen and defenseman Cale Makar.

“You’ve got a MacKinnon or an Eichel, that type of speed off the rush,” DeBoer said. “I think both have elite power plays, particularly Colorado. Elite power play. This is elite-plus. So, there’s a lot of similarities if you look at the two opponents, I think.”

Asked for the key against McDavid, DeBoer laughed.

“Cross your fingers,” he said. “Pray. You know, I mean, it’s like Nate MacKinnon. It’s like Jack Eichel. You’re never going to hold them off the scoresheet. You’ve got to defend them as a five-man unit. You always have to have awareness when they’re on the ice. You’ve got to have detail to your game at all times, and you can’t take a breath, because those guys will expose you.”

Dallas went 2-0-1 against Edmonton in the regular season. McDavid had one assist. Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins each had two. Bouchard scored twice, but Hyman didn’t have a point.

One game came after the Stars acquired defenseman Chris Tanev from the Calgary Flames on Feb. 28. That was a 5-0 win at American Airlines Center on April 3.

DeBoer was cautious, however.

“We’ve faced some great players here, but you’ve got to do it again,” DeBoer said. “Whatever you’ve done in the past is great and has gotten us to this point, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to do the same thing to Connor McDavid. You’ve got to go out and do it all over again and do it at another level than you’ve done it prior.”

The Stars had 113 points in the regular season, winning the Western Conference and finishing one point behind the New York Rangers for the Presidents’ Trophy. The Oilers had 104 points, fifth in the West and ninth in the League.

But after starting 3-9-1, the Oilers replaced coach Jay Woodcroft with Kris Knoblauch on Nov. 12. From that point, the Oilers had 97 points, the most in the NHL. They defeated the Los Angeles Kings in five games in the first round and the Vancouver Canucks in seven in the second.

That is one difference from Vegas and Colorado. After an 11-0-1 start, the Golden Knights had 75 points from Nov. 5 through the end of the regular season, 21st in the NHL. The Avalanche went 4-5-2 down the stretch before defeating the Winnipeg Jets in five games in the first round.

“Every series is unique,” DeBoer said. “You’re down to the final four teams, so I think Edmonton is playing with a lot of confidence, and they have all year.

“You know, when we played Vegas, they had kind of, because of some injuries and things, they had kind of stumbled around a little in the second half. Colorado had had their stumbles in the second half and kind of put it together against Winnipeg in the first round. This Edmonton team has been rolling for six months. That’s a dangerous opponent.”