Other blog vanished but I had written in it about the pros and cons about facing either the Stars or the Jets. We now know that the Oilers opponent in the Western Conference Finals will once again be the Dallas Stars. Series will start Wednesday evening in Dallas.
The Oilers and Stars will be a highly entertaining series with a ton of interesting stories. Today let's take a look at a few of those.
RANTANEN
For the first time in the McDavid era, the Oilers will be going up against an opponent with a player that is producing more than McDavid and Draisaitl. Rantanen has 9 goals and 19 points compared to the 17 points that McDavid has and the 16 points that Draisaitl has. After a slower start, Rantanen has exploded in these playoffs and how the Oilers are able to contain him will be a huge focus for the Oilers and a key to their success.
BEST D PAIRING...WORST D?
In Heiskanen and Harley the Dallas Stars have two #1 defensemen. Harley has been on the ice for 11 goals for at 5 on 5 in these playoffs and 7 against. Heiskanen has been on for 1 goal for and 0 against in his short time since his return. Bichsel also has been on for 5 goals for and 4 against. The rest of the blueline for the Stars is suspect.
Lindell: 7GF-9GA
Ceci: 6GF-9GA
Lybushkin: 6GF-11GA
Petrovic: 4GF-4GA
and before I get anyone coming in asking how the Oilers are better...
Bouchard: 16GF-13GA
Walman: 15GF-6GA
Klingberg: 7GF-3GA
Kulak: 7GF-6GA
Nurse: 10GF-13GA
Emberson: 2GF-1GA
Stecher: 1GF-0GA
TOP LOADED
This Stars team really reminds me of last years Oilers; a dominant top line and top D pairing that is almost impossible to beat but the rest of the lineup suspect. The main top line the Stars have run has been Rantanen, Granlund, and Hintz. Here are their 5 on 5 splits:
Rantanen: 11GF-4GA
Hinz: 7GF-2GA
Granlund: 7GF-3GA
Dominant numbers. Here are the remaining Stars forwards that have a positive goal differential; have been on the ice for more goals scored than goals against:
Evgeni Dadonov
That is the list. The Stars have all their eggs in one basket and it is a highly effective basket but there are weaknesses among the remaining forward core and blue line. For the Edmonton Oilers, here is the list of players that do not have a positive goal differential:
Jeff Skinner.
That is it.
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OETTINGER
Almost feels like this is a 'nuff said point. While the Stars have struggled when their top line isn't on the ice, Jake Oettinger deserves tons of credit for keeping things close and has been lights out for Dallas throughout these playoffs. For the Oilers, they have a couple positive take aways to push things more their way.
The first is Stuart Skinner has posted back to back shutouts and is starting to look like the goalie who helped the team to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, including a series winning game against the Stars where he stood on his head. The other positive news is the Oilers have shown they can make very good goalies look beatable. Darcy Kuemper entered the playoffs with the second best GAA in the regular season, barely allowing 2 goals a game. Kuemper finished the first round with a 3.74GAA and 0.889SV%.
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The strategy the Oilers should deploy against the Stars is the same strategy that other teams have had against the Oilers in the past; do your best to restrain the effectiveness of the top line, stay out of the box to avoid a deadly powerplay, and let your players take over at 5 on 5 for the remaining minutes.
This should be another phenomenal series and I can't wait for Wednesday,
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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