Oilers finish off Stars, return to Stanley Cup Final

By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Sports Writer

DALLAS — Connor McDavid had the breakaway goal that swung the momentum back to the Edmonton Oilers, and their captain happily touched the trophy they received after wrapping up another Western Conference title.

McDavid got that big goal in the second period after an earlier assist, 40-year-old Corey Perry scored again and the Oilers are going to their second Stanley Cup Final in a row after beating the Dallas Stars, 6-3, on Thursday night in Game 5 to wrap up the best-of-seven series.

When McDavid accepted the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, he gladly put his hands on it this time.

“It’s pretty obvious I think,” McDavid said about what was different from the end of last year’s West final. “Don’t touch it last year, you don’t win. Touch it this year, hopefully we win.”

Edmonton scored on its first two shots, and jumped ahead 3-0 in the first 8:07 on way to eliminating the Stars in the conference final for the second year in a row.

The Oilers get another rematch, against defending Stanley Cup champion Florida after a seven-game series last June in which the Panthers won the first three games. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Edmonton.

Dallas was within a goal when Thomas Harley had a one-timer blocked by Mattias Ekholm, the Oilers defenseman playing for the first time this postseason. McDavid gathered the long ricochet well past center ice, stayed ahead of speedy Roope Hintz and beat goalie Casey DeSmith with 5:32 left in the second period.

“That’s a Connor McDavid kind of play and that’s just the player he is,” Perry said.

Mattias Janmark, Jeff Skinner, Evander Kane and Kasperi Kapanen also scored for Edmonton, the last an empty-netter in the closing seconds. Leon Draisaitl and Jake Walman each had two assists.

Arcadia product Jason Robertson scored twice and Hintz had a goal for the Stars, who ended their season in the West final for the third year in a row. Wyatt Johnston and Harley each had two assists.

“You’ve got to keep knocking on the door,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We chased every single game in this series and that’s a tough way to play hockey against that team. It was the story of the entire series, but the fourth goal, Connor’s goal … puck bounces into the neutral zone, he’s coming off the bench, he’s not missing that. It’s game over.”

DeSmith had taken over in net after starting goalie Jake Oettinger was pulled following Janmark’s goal that made it 2-0 only 7:09 into the game.

“Well, anytime you pull a goalie, the reasoning is always to try and spark your group. So that was the No. 1 reason,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We had talked endlessly in this series about trying to play with the lead, and obviously we were in 2-0 hole right away. And you know what, I didn’t take that lightly, and I didn’t blame it all on Jake.”

Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner had 14 saves. DeSmith, who hadn’t played since April 26 in Game 1 of the first round against Colorado, stopped 17 of 20 shots.

Perry scored on a power play, assisted by McDavid and Draisaitl, only 2:31 into the game. His seven goals are the most by any player age 39 or older in a single postseason, and the 2007 Stanley Cup champion with the Ducks when he was 22 is now going to his fifth Final in the past six seasons.

That was McDavid’s 100th assist in 90 playoff games, the second-fastest player in NHL history to reach that mark. Wayne Gretzky had 100 assists in his first 70 playoff games, and no other player has reached the mark in fewer than 125 games.

It was the 15th time in 18 games this postseason that the Stars gave up the first goal, including every one against the Oilers.

“The reality is we go back to last year’s playoffs, (Oettinger) has lost six of seven games to Edmonton, and we give up two goals on two shots in an elimination game,” DeBoer said. “It was partly to spark our team and wake them up and partly, you know, knowing that the status quo had not been working. That’s a pretty big sample size.”

Robertson scored a minute into the third period to get the Stars within a goal again. Kane then scored on a shot that went off the skate of Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell and past DeSmith.

Jeff Skinner, the 33-year-old forward who has played 1,078 regular-season games over 15 years with three teams, scored his first career postseason goal for the 3-0 lead. His playoff debut was in the first-round opener against the Kings on April 21, but he didn’t play again until Thursday when the Oilers were without injured forwards Zach Hyman and Connor Brown.