Edmonton Oilers vs Dallas Stars: Western Final Preview + Bold Predictions | Who wins and why

Edmonton Oilers vs Dallas Stars: Western Final Preview + Bold Predictions | Who wins and why

Don’t adjust your screen. It is not deja vu. The Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers with a trip to the Stanley Cup final on the line. I’m joined by Joey Ericson of Locked On Stars for a very special crossover edition of Locked On Oilers. You are Locked On Oilers. Your daily podcast on the Edmonton Oilers, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Hello everyone and welcome to this very special crossover edition of Locked On Oilers and Locked On Stars. I am Nick Mixar, the host of Locked On Oilers. That’s Joey Ericson, the host of Locked On Stars. We want to thank everyone that’s making our shows their first listen of the day. Both Locked On Oilers and Locked On Stars are a part of the Locked On podcast network where we cover your team every day. And today’s episode is brought to you by our friends over at MonarchMoney who want you to help take control of your finances and use code locked on NHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Joey, my friend, it’s a pleasure to be back here. It’s an honor to be in the final four once again. I feel like the elephant in the room is the one really big difference between these two teams year-over-year. So, I’m going to ask you the most obvious layup first question. Okay, let’s say after last year’s Western Conference Finals, I went into a coma for 12 months and I just woke up today. What do I need to know about the Dallas Stars that I might have missed in the last 12 months? Well, they they have Mo Rantin. That um that is uh the the biggest difference with this year’s Dallas Stars team, but they also added some nice uh nice pieces in in Mle Granland. Um, and they also have Cody Cece, which I know isn’t a sexy name as uh many Oilers fans know, but he’s been rather serviceable here in Dallas this season. But it it really all goes through Mo the Moose Ranton, and he’s had an incredible postseason. He put the Stars on his back to even get them into the second round with that game seven performance against Colorado. He leads the playoffs in scoring. He went a bit quiet towards the end of this series uh against the Jets, but man, he looks amazing. He looks beautiful in Victory Green, and I think Stars fans are very, very happy that he’s going to be around for the next eight years. Really quick before I let you ask me a similar type of question, what does that do to their lineup? Because for a while now, the Stars have boasted one of the deepest forward groups in the NHL. and dropping a guy who’s capable of playing 22 or 23 minutes a night in all situations that has a trickle down effect. What has that done to their group? Yeah, it’s been really interesting. And the last two games uh against Winnipeg, we’ve seen the the Stars deploy 11 forwards and seven defensemen. And that’s not like Pete Dbor. And Pete Tabbor also stated, it was in an ESPN article recently, and I I I thought it was really curious some of his thoughts on getting a player like Miko Ranton, and he mentioned they have to do some things differently because he can play 21 22 minutes a night, and with Mer Hasten just coming back off an injury, they they wanted to to kind of ease his way back into the lineup. So, uh, with the 11 forward deployments, they were able to give Mo some some more reps. And he was playing with everybody. He was playing with Sam Steel and Donov, which is the Stars fourth line. He was playing with Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson. And of course, he’s playing with Henson Granland. So, it really has changed the mindset or I think approach for Pete Dbor in the star in the Stars, which is interesting because as as we know Pete Dbor, he he’s always kind of been the stubborn guy, right? He he runs four lines. He run six defense and that and that’s kind of how it’s been uh for better or for worse and he’s sort of changed that up and that I think game six was a great uh a great example of that like Mero played I think 22 minutes played 24 and Harley played I think somewhere 25 and I know they had overtime in there but he was throwing all the big guns out there to try to win that game in regulation of course they had to finish it off in overtime but they got the job done so that’s where I think the stars have have differed with them in the lineup and sort of that trickle down effect. In terms of where the Stars are at, they’ve been lingering around this conversation for a while as the next team up. They’ve made a couple conference finals now. They have a Stanley Cup final appearance. And when I talked to you about this last year and when I had talked to you around the trade deadline, we felt that it wasn’t so much that they they weren’t good enough. It’s just that’s the way hockey goes sometimes that the other team sometimes they just win and that’s kind of the nature of the game where it’s cruel and unfortunate. You can play better, you can deserve to win, but that doesn’t always mean that’s going to happen. The Stars are very well positioned to do this for a while now. They’ve got a pretty young core that’s reasonably controlled at this point. Do you feel it’s a matter of just getting the right supporting cast around your building blocks or is there something else? you know, is there something innate that they’re missing? Well, I I I I think something that they were missing maybe in years past and has been clicking for them and has been a big reason why they’ve been able to make it to this point is sort of the the old cliche in special teams and goending. Not that Jake was ever a big issue, but special teams in particular because you mentioned where sometimes you you think you outplay a team and you lose. Well, well, this postseason it’s it’s been weird where it feels like Dallas has been outplayed quite but they’re winning because they’re scoring those timely goals and we saw that quite a bit in the in the Jet series. They just scored at really opportunistic times and and sometimes that can carry you through the postseason. I I would say that’s what’s been a bit difference uh been a been a difference, but as we saw last season too, the star special teams really dried up against Edmonton. They were very very good on the PK against Dallas. So, it’s going to be a really really fun chess match during this series between uh both of these teams. But, I think that’s what’s sort of been different. They’ve just seemed to have some of those uh those clutch moments I I suppose. Of course, they’ve won three overtime games, which helps. And um the depth of the is a course there, but they’re not always relying on that as much. Um like Sam Steel scored a big goal in game six. Like that’s not a guy that they’re looking to score. Um, so when you can get those type of moments from some of those guys, it’s great. But it’s nice to to have a guy you can kind of kind of lean on like like 96 a bit and he’s shown that. And the stars are getting a bit healthier as the playoffs have gone on, which has been nice. And I say this with u uh the the respect of Jason Robertson who doesn’t have a goal in the playoffs yet and he hasn’t really looked like himself. So, u it’ll be fascinating and and we talked last year a lot u Nick and thinking that I I mean I was really confident about Dallas and I I think the the Oilers humbled a lot of Stars fans including myself and now I I I go in very nervous and and and looking at the Oilers team that looks like they’re deeper. Um they looks like they got better. I I think maybe they underperformed in the regular season if I had to say. I I thought they were going to win the West. They were going to be up there. Uh but but here we are again. So I I guess that leads me into my first question too. Um tell me about the Evander Kanes of the world, the Corey Perry’s and what they have done. That feels like uh a a large difference from maybe a season ago where they’re not having to rely on 97 and 29 to do everything, who of course are going to get their looks, but specifically this depth and the pieces they added and now it seems like maybe at this time of year they’re just playing their best. So, the big thing is that they have lines that play different styles now. Last year, it was a lot of off of the rush, and if that wasn’t there, the offense was a lot harder to come by. And we’ll see. The last two games against Vegas, they ran very different lineups than what they had run successfully earlier in the Vegas series or against LA. But Cory Perry was playing on the first line was McDavid and dry title. Their second line was Nan Hopkins, Heyman, and Evander Kane. And they just played the game in a phone booth. They got the puck below the goal line. They put pressure on the defenseman, forced them to try and break out, and more often than not, they were winning those 50/50 pucks, created a lot of dangerous offense. And then the the Henrik line has been kind of their buffer. They’re going to get a lot of the defensive zone starts against the other team’s best players. And they’re out there with the intent of absorbing pressure and trying to counterattack going the other way. Whether it’s Yanmark or Frederick on Henrik’s left, it depends on the given game. And then Connor Brown on the right, who had a lot of success in last year’s playoffs as a penalty killer. and scoring off of the rush as well. And then their fourth line, you know, Pod Coulson’s chipped in a couple nice goals. Yanmark has chipped in a couple. They have found ways, I mean, Kappa won them the game to go to the next round. Someone who hadn’t played in almost a month. They have really found a mix of guys that play complimentary styles to each other. And it’s just given them different ways to beat teams that weren’t there. you know that Kane and Perry both add an element of below the goal line ruggedness playing around the net front. So even if you’re not scoring, you’re making the defense play defense and you’re making that goalie move left to right. I mean Aiden Hill was kind of at wit’s end by the end of game five where he had the interaction I guess you would call it with the Vanderane after the whistle where he kept like shrugging at his glove like all right I’ll fight you. Didn’t ultimately do it. Kane took a penalty in that scrum, but the Oilers have added a bit more ruggedness and high danger offense. That’s not just McDavid and Dryidle trying to make things happen for themselves. I I think both of these teams may be around for for the future. It may have a lot more meetings maybe at this point or even earlier in the in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Now, the deadline for the Oilers maybe wasn’t as sexy a as Dallas, but I was watching the game the other night. I think it was game five and I’m watching John Clingberg look like John Clingberg in Dallas for a bit and maybe I I look I I don’t watch a ton of Oilers games. I’m just watching because it’s the playoffs. I’m like, “Wow, he looks awesome.” But Jake Walman as well, those two specific pickups for Edmonton. What have they done for this Oilers side? So Clintberg played like 10 games in the regular season and he looked terrible. He did not look comfortable. He couldn’t move very well. He didn’t really have a feel for the game. He’d played 12 games in like a year and a half. He played a couple games with the Leafs at the start of 23 24 and then sat out the entirety of last year. Signed at the end of January, played 10-ish regular season games, went on LTIR, came back in against the Kings for Josh Brown after game one, and he’s been great. That second pair of him and Jake Walman has been the ideal transition pair where no matter where the puck is on the ice, both of them are very comfortable moving it, getting it where it needs to go, and playing complimentary hockey to whatever forward group they happen to be out there with. Clingberg, I’m a bit more skeptical of him sustaining this just because he hasn’t played that much in the last two years. And it’s the same thing with Evander Kane, frankly. I I think you can make a similar comparison where just hasn’t played a lot of hockey, fresher than a lot of the guys he’s out there against. And I think that definitely has been a factor. Wman, I think this is what he is. He’s really good on the puck. He’s prone to taking stupid penalties cuz he loves getting involved after the whistle, but they have been a really ideal second pair. And Ekholm should be back at some point in this series, which is only going to elongate this group. Whether that forces Troy Ster or someone else out entirely, that’s another top four defender you can add back to this mix and deepen the group even further. Well, the the Stars uh have loved their stupid penalties, too, Dick, over the first two rounds. I I’ve shaken my head at a lot a lot of penalties the Stars have taken. So, uh we we we’ll see um we’ll see who wins that battle, I guess, in this seven game series because uh uh who who knows uh who’s going to hurt uh their team at one point uh in the next few weeks. We are going to take our first break on this special crossover edition of Locked on Oilers and Stars. And coming up next, Joey and I are going to give you our key players and the big swings that this series will likely take. Coming up next, do you ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping, and entertainment, it’s really easy to lose track. And that’s where Monarch Money comes in as your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center where you can track all of your accounts, investments, and spending in one place so you stop managing your money and start building wealth. Hand up. When I first started using Monodarch to track my spending, I became aware of how much I was do dashing and Uber eating. Now I meal prep. I plan out my finances. I budget. And now I save more. And instead of juggling multiple apps, you can use Monarch to check your finances, track spending, and even plan out long-term financial goals like a vacation. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchoney.com. code locked on NHL for half off your first year. Thank you to everyone who is hanging out with Joey and I on this crossover edition of Locked on Oilers and Locked On Stars. And not to make the very obvious pun, but there are a lot of stars in this series. This is a very these are two very talented teams. I I venture to say these are probably the two most talented teams in the Western Conference. They both roll four lines that all play pretty well. I would venture to say the Stars have a slightly better defensive group by virtue of having two top 10 to 15 defensemen in the same group and then the Stars have a very decisive edge in net between Aer and Skinner or Pickard if Pickard does come back at some point in this series. But sitting here right now, what do you feel who do you feel is the key for the Stars in this series if they’re going to have this go the opposite direction of last year? Well, I’m going to throw a wild card uh for Ford and then I’ll go to a more obvious choice for for the back end, but I’m going to throw a bit of an X factor in there. I’m going to go within Donnov for whatever reason. I’ve just I I’ve liked his game in some of the the big moments for for Dallas and he looked really good the other night in game six against Winnipeg. He didn’t end up with a shot on goal, which was kind of remarkable for how many almost point blank chances he he had, but he he gives Dallas that element of of just speed um on their fourth line. Um it’s not your prototypical I guess what you would say sort of a Vander Kane, Cory Perry, like below the goal line type of offense like Donov likes to stretch the ice out and Pete Debor really trusts him. Basically, wherever Pete’s gone recently, Donov sort of follows. Um, and he only has one goal in the postseason, but it was a big one in game two against Colorado. Uh, but he he just seems to to be in the right spot in in some of those big moments. So, I mean, he scored 20 goals this season. He was 20 goal scorer, which um isn’t half bad for um a 35year-old. So, if you’re in your mid-30s and you want to get your your goal scoring touchback, you come to Dallas for whatever reason. The the Stars have some something in the water down here um in the DFW Metroplex. But on on the back end, what has to be different in particular, because I’ve said this uh about the Stars versus Colorado in years past and last year coming out, Mirro Hasten has to be the best defense or he has to outplay Evan Buchard who was phenomenal in that series um against uh Dallas last season. I think he was maybe second and point. He may have been third behind McDavid, but I just remember him being an absolute menace offensively and he played fantastic and and Miro uh wasn’t uh wasn’t up to standards. I I I think to to try to challenge him because if he outplays Macar like he did a season ago, I think Harley outplayed Macar um this year and he mentioned the Stars have two sort of top 15 guys um on the blue line and it helps Miro is fresh which is nice and he talked about Kane and Perry maybe not playing as much like Meera hadn’t played a game for over three months. So um by the time he got to this point last year he already logged so many minutes because we know he played 28 pretty much 30 minutes a night because they needed him to. it’s not really the case anymore um with with CC and stuff and with him coming back they can drop either CC down a spot or Leouchkin and it just moves everybody down a spot and puts them in more suitable roles I I think moving forward. So um if Mural looks like he did the other night I think the stars will be in decent hands. So the obvious one for me is they need McDavid to get back to what he was doing a little bit earlier in the playoffs and credit to Vegas who is a very good defensive team. They did a really nice job of diverting him and when he gains the zone with speed, forcing him to the wall as opposed to letting him cut to the middle and using his speed to put their goalie in a disadvantageous position. So, they need McDavid to just I don’t even need him to score more. Just more zone time, more working, especially on the power play. I don’t know if you know this or not, they have yet to score a power play goal on the road in the playoffs this year. Wow. Through two series and They’re they’re scoring on 25% of the power plays, so they’re not playing terribly, but last year that was their equalizer. They weren’t a great five on five team, but they were the best special teams team in the playoffs. They got to game seven of the Stanley Cup final, a goal away from winning the whole thing. Their goal differential at even strength was one. They were 43 goals for, 42 goals against, and they were a goal away from winning the Stanley Cup. That’s how good their special teams were. And then the slightly lower off the radar. They need Zack Heyman to kind of find that gear. He’s been floating around the periphery. He’s had a couple of breakaways that last year they went in. You know, he had the one breakaway goal against the Stars and I believe it was game six. He had a big one in game six against Florida to force the game seven. So for the Oilers, I can’t believe I’m talking about forwards on a team where you look at the defense on paper and you’d probably be squinting, rubbing your eyes a little bit why I feel so confident in this group, but the way they’ve played LA, the way they’ve played Vegas, it’s really been a trickle down effect where the forwards play pretty well. They control the offensive zone time. The Oilers are leading the entire playoffs in most of the metrics, scoring chances, high danger chances, expected goals. They haven’t had to play a lot of defense, which I do think will change in this series to some degree. And I’m very curious to see how the Oilers respond to that because they’ve been very willing to play lowscoring defense first games, especially the last two against Vegas where they weren’t really pushing for offense. They were playing a more defenseoriented lineup where McDavid was playing with Heyman and Nan Hopkins. Dry Cidle was playing with Kappa and Pod Coulson. and they dropped a lot of what had worked earlier because they felt they needed to prioritize defense more against the Stars who, as you mentioned, you play a guy like Dadnov in your bottom six who has 20 goals. You kind of got to look for offense a little bit more. So, I’ll be very curious to see if the Oilers go back to the forward group that was putting up a ton of offense against LA and then earlier in that series against Vegas. Yeah, I think that’s a a fascinating point. You you bring up how Edmonton uh kind of was fine with the fact of playing a bit more defensively because it’s something I I think maybe that struck me with with the Stars a bit more and and and maybe it just happened to be a one-off, but I feel at points they’re almost more comfortable sort of being that counter punch team um instead of like the heavy possession extended zone. like they’re okay with just kind of trying to trap you at the neutral zone and and create turnovers and counteract instead of just being that team of just constant pressure like we’ve seen. Um, and maybe that’s a good thing too that they have different ways to go about their business instead of just hanging on to the uh I guess one way that that works. Um, or or maybe it’s just cuz they’re not playing very well and we and we’ve seen it points on the road and home like the splits have been pretty drastic for Dallas. They haven’t been that great on the road. They’ve been shut up three times already this postseason, but the great thing is they’ve responded every time and they haven’t lost back-to-back games. So, I I’m curious to see how Dallas looks um on the road against Edmonton. We are going to take one more and final break on this crossover edition of Locked on Oilers and Locked On Stars. We come back, Joey and I are going to give you our X factors, the key matchups, and pick the series. Be right back. Thank you to everyone who is hanging out with us on this crossover edition of Locked on Oilers and Locked On Stars. I am Nick Sar. That is Joey Ericson. All right, Joey, give me your X factor. Is this as simple as Mo Rantin needs to have his signature moment a third time or is it is it a little deeper than that? Um, I I think it really is, Mo, just because like I sort of alluded to earlier, uh, in the episode, that’s sort of the difference with Dallas. They just they sort of have a guy they can kind of lean on, and I I think it’s fair to say Mo Rantinon is somewhere within the the top 10 of elite players in the National Hockey League. I know there’s a lot of flack with him throughout this season, but he’s proven in the postseason he can be a dog. Um he he’s well over a point per game in his playoff career and Stars fans have got to see that and they’ve been able to unlock him too cuz he he wasn’t huming off the hop against Colorado. It was just those last three games when he had 11 points or something like that. If if he can have signature moments um in years past they’ve been looking for Jason Robertson to do that a bit and we haven’t really got that for him. It’s really come more from Wyatt Johnston, which is weird. And he’s their third line center. It’s nice to have somebody like that coming out of three hole. But if if Rantin can be that guy for Dallas um and just have some of those big moments, you’re going to feel pretty decent uh about where the Stars are because they’re getting good goalending. They’re getting good enough defense for the most part. I I think that the Stars and and Oilers defense is probably pretty similar in a lot of ways. I mean, maybe you give Dallas the edge, but um I I don’t think both these teams are like lock it up and uh like, oh yeah, you’re not going to score against us. Um I felt better defensively about the Stars last year when they had Chris Tanv who’s who’s now uh still kicking it over in Toronto. But yeah, I I think it really is simple. Like if Mika Ranson could be that guy, like that’s going to be good for Dallas. I feel like this is a coin flip. I really genuinely feel that this could go either way and I wouldn’t really be surprised unless it ends quick. That’s really the only way I’d be surprised if this was a four or five gamer. That would shock me. Otherwise, any of the other outcomes seem well within reason. My biggest X factor, the Oilers are going to need one of their defenseman that is not Evan Bousard to just play a lot of minutes in this series. And Bousard is a very volatile player because of his style which skews towards offense. He’s prone to the really big defensive mistake, but he’s quieted down significantly as these playoffs have gone along. In my head, I want to say it has to be Darnell Nurse because Knoblock trusts him so much and he plays, especially on the penalty kill, which has been really bad. It’s the worst penalty kill of the teams that are left in the playoffs. They’re only killing 67% of penalties so far in the playoffs, which is the clearest regression of all time after last year when they killed off 92 out of 96 in in 25 playoff games, which was otherworldly. So, I I think my big X factor is going to be Darnell Nurse or if Ekholm comes back early enough in this series that it’s not just kind of a token we’re going 11 and seven in a game six cuz we want to see if he can go. And he skated this morning. He looks okay, but they’re playing it as slow as they can because they kind of rushed him back in the first place and that’s why this injury got worse. So, I I think it’s Darnell Nurse for the Stars. As far as the key matchup for me, I think it depends if the Oilers play McDavid and Dry Cidle together or not because if they play together, the Oilers haven’t needed to kill their minutes because the depth scoring has been so good. They they they outscored the Golden Knights 9-4 at five on five in the series over six games and that was enough with mediocre penalty killing and only an okay power play. So if they play together, I’m very curious to see who Dbor deploys against them, whether it’s defenseman, do you want to give Harley the harder offensive minute assignment? Do you want to give Heiskin in those minutes and tell him, “Hey, just worry about the defense. Worry about playing to not lose effectively.” and then you win the rest of the minutes because I think that’s the stars path. I think you try and contain Leon and Connor if they’re together best you can and then you hope that because your high-end guys are a little more sprinkled throughout your lineup. You know, if you can get Wyatt Johnston out there consistently against an Adam Henrik line, I think you like that matchup a little bit more than you would if you were the Oilers. The question of course then becomes, well, how does the Oilers counterbalance that? This is a great matchup as far as chess match because so both of these teams have so many different permutations that can really work for them. Yeah. And Dallas doesn’t get a ton of offense from their back end. It’s it’s really 55 and fours where you can expect it to come from. So if if they do load them up, which I I think it’s going to be D’Vor playing probably off the hop. If let’s say McDavid dry playing together, they’re going to get a healthy dose of four and 55. Um, and Dallas is just going to roll with that and try to win in some of the the other matchups. But then that may hinder your offense a bit and you’re going to have to capitalize on some of the special teams then. Uh, because that’s when you can get Harley and Mirror out there um, a bit and that’s it. It’s it’s sort of I guess a similar game plan to when you kind of play the Colorado world. Can you contain 29? Can you contain Mar um enough? And they usually get a healthy dose of Harley or Meera, whoever that number one is. It’s kind of nice. Dallas almost has two now it feels like and they and and now they can just kind of load him up together um because I I think it benefits them both and since Miro is just coming back although he looks great it does give Miro um some protection to have somebody like Harley that can move the puck well and move his feet and not put him with maybe Cody CC or something and um it leaves it um a bit treacherous at times. But I I think you’re I think you’re right. uh you hit the nail on the head like can you contain can you contain 9729 and try to win some of those other matchups. Um and and part of Dallas has to they have to win those matchups. Um because they haven’t got a ton from their depth it it’s been all right but if they can win those matchups you feel like Dallas would be good. Um but you know we felt that way last year at least I did and then but it was it was Edmonton that that that won those matchups. So yeah it’s it’s a coin flip. It’s going to be a fascinating series and um I think it’s go back and forth and of course you got Skinner who’s maybe figuring it out again like he did last year. All of a sudden it was like oh like the Stars can’t beat him now. So goending is the hardest thing to understand cuz it just doesn’t make sense. You look at Hellabuck. Yes. Oh hell. That’s that that is the most precient case study for why the position makes no sense. That is the consensus best goalie in the world for two straight years and he has playoff games where he looks like he’s never played the position before. It is impossible to understand. Yeah. Never won a road game Winnipeg. Like just it just really really insane stuff with a President’s Trophy winning team. I think that’s that’s just Stanley Cup playoffs too. Like the pressure comes down to it. And that’s why I felt pretty good about Dallas going into game six. In a lot of ways they they didn’t really like I feel like they didn’t have pressure on them. of course he up 3-1, but it’s Winnipeg that has not won on the road all postseason long and Hellob has looked awful. That’s that’s the real pressure. Um especially as a goalender like you have to go in there and try to do something to have it done against a team that’s been pretty good at home. But yeah, it’s it’s you know hockey is baffling sometimes what makes it beautiful and and insane at the at the same time cuz you like we said at the top you can have just as good of a team. I think these two teams are very even. There is not a lot of daylight between them and I wouldn’t really be surprised no matter what happens. With that in mind, I did earnestly debate flipping a coin on the show and using that as kind of the hook, but I’m down for it. I I and I feel that this year’s Oilers team is better than last year’s Oilers team because their five on five play has been worlds better. They roll four lines and all of them have guys that can consistently score. I think I am going to stick to my convictions and I’m going to pick the Oilers to win this series in seven games. I don’t feel particularly good about it, but I do think this is going to be the better of the two playoff series between the two conferences. Yeah, it should be uh it should be a lot of fun. And Dallas has has been in some very entertaining series here. They they’ve had a crazy road. That’s just sort of how they go about it. Um, and I think what I think is awesome too with both of these sides, they they’ve gotten here again, but they’ve had really I I I I think they’ve had really treacherous years in a lot of way. Like, it’s been a lot of adver it hasn’t been easy for both of these sides and and they’ve just persevered going down 3 0 I think it was to to 28 seconds to left. They were down they were down a goal with 28 seconds left on home ice about to go down three games to none. and they won in overtime and that turned the entire season around. Yeah. And Dallas goes down two nothing in game seven in the third period like right away. Like it’s unheard of to kind of especially if you give up the first goal in a game seven like the numbers don’t bear that out. But you go down another and they found a way to pull it out and now they’re here. Um yeah, I I don’t see I’ll pick the Stars but I don’t see them winning this any other way than a game seven. Right. I I I don’t see them finishing off Edmonton on the road. So, I’ll I’ll take Stars in seven and maybe Pete D’vor’s Magic or whatever it is. Maybe continues to hold on. At some point, it’s gonna end, you would think. But I I’ll I’ll take the Stars um in seven, but as you said, Edmonton got better. I think the Stars are maybe slightly better. Um I don’t know how much conviction I have behind that. I I I like really because, you know, I love Chris Tanniff. I really do. I brought him up for the second time. I wish he was still around. But, um yeah, I feel like both teams got a little bit better. So fireworks hopefully fireworks. Don’t sleep on Mr. game seven Cody Cece. Three straight game sevens with a goal. Don’t sleep on Cody CC if this goes seven games. That will do it for this crossover edition of Locked on Oilers and Locked on Stars. We want to thank everyone that made this their first listen of the day. Please subscribe. Leave five star reviews on Apple and Spotify. Subscribe over on YouTube. And if you’re itching for more hockey content, be sure to check out the locked on NHL feed featuring locked on NHL game night, breaking down the games from the night before and locked on NHL covering the biggest stories around the league. Joey and I will talk to you guys real soon. Until then, enjoy the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars face off in the 2025 Western Conference Final with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final on the line for the second straight year. Whether it’s the Edmonton Oilers stars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl or the Dallas Stars’ stars like Mikko Rantanen or Thomas Harley, there is star power abound. Hosts Nick Zararis and Joey Erickson walk through the key series storylines like the Oilers 5-on-5 play, the Stars’ rising alongside Rantanen and the return of Miro Heiskanen. Nick and Joey also discuss series X-factors like Evgenii Dadonov and Zach Hyman, dissect key matchups like Heiskanen against McDavid and pick the series.
0:00 Intro: Western Conference Finals rematch preview

5:13 Stars’ evolution and special teams improvement

8:46 Oilers’ lineup changes and offensive strategies

15:14 Key players for Stars in the series

21:22 X-factors and matchups to watch

26:21 Goaltending unpredictability and series predictions

Edmonton Oilers vs Dallas Stars: Western Final Preview + Bold Predictions | Who wins and why

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.
Wonderful Pistachios
Get snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more!
FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOOilers?sid=YouTube

Locked On NHL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Prospects & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNHL

#NHL #Oilers #EdmontonOilers