Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 44: Oilers advance to Stanley Cup Final with 2-1 win in Game 6

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars
Credit: © Perry Nelson

It was Game 6 between the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night, and the Stars were on the brink of seeing their season come to an end. They were down 3-2 in the series and they needed a win on the road, where they’ve seen plenty of success in the playoffs. With some roster adjustments, including inserting Mavrik Bourque into the lineup, would the Stars take this to Game 7? Or would the Oilers clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals?

Well, the Stars didn’t exactly get the start they were looking for. Instead it was the Oilers that stepped up out of the gate, with their captain Connor McDavid coming up with a clutch goal on an early power play. Not only did he score on Edmonton’s first shot of the game, he did so in typical McDavid fashion with a couple excellent moves to magically get himself to the slot to score the 1-0 goal.

The Oilers power play has really woken up after their performance in Game 5, because they continued their momentum on the man advantage later in the first. This time, McDavid set up Zach Hyman in the slot on the rush, and despite it only being their third shot of the game, the Oilers had a 2-0 lead.

From that point on, it was a lot of what we’d seen. The Oilers hardly got any shots on net, and the Stars got their fair share of shots, but they never really generated anything of substance. It was starting to look like Edmonton was going to close this game out with ease, until Mason Marchment cut the deficit in half with 10:42 remaining in the third period.

But that was all the Stars could muster for a comeback. They continued to pile shots on Stuart Skinner, outshooting Edmonton 14-2 in the third, but they couldn’t get any thing past the Oilers netminder. With that, Edmonton wins the game 2-1, and they punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final after winning the series 4-2.

McDavid and Evan Bouchard were the only players in the game with multiple points, while Skinner stopped 34 of the 35 shots he faced in the win. The Oilers also set a record for the fewest shots in a Cup Final-clinching game with the 10 they put on net in the game, beating the previous mark by 7 shots.

With that, the Oilers advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in the McDavid era, and the first time since 2006, and will face off against the Florida Panthers for the Stanley Cup. The Stars find themselves out of the playoffs in the Western Conference Finals for the second straight year, and fail to advance to the Cup Final for the first time since 2020.

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