In one of the oddest games of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers took 10 shots on goal in Game 6,

They had three in the opening stanza, scoring twice off the power play.

That was all they needed in a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final against the Panthers.

Stuart Skinner made 34 saves in the clinching win.

Connor McDavid staked the Oilers to a 1-0 lead at 4:17 of the first.

“There’s been lots of growing pains, for sure, lots of lessons, and obviously it feels great to be in this position,” McDavid said. “This was always part of the plan, and it feels good to be here today.”

He toe-dragged the puck past Miro Heiskanen for a shot that went top shelf for the 1-0 advantage with the Oilers’ first power play marker.

Zach Hyman scored off the power play at 15:42 of the first. with the second strike off the power play, on the Oilers’ third shot of the period.

He scored form the left circle with his 14th goal of the playoffs.

“We’ve closed out big games. It’s not always the prettiest, but we got it done and that’s all that really matters,” McDavid said. “I thought we gave up a couple looks coming down the stretch that we’d like to not give up, and guys were sacrificing their bodies with big blocks or ‘Stu’ making timely saves, whatever it was. We got it done and that’s all that really matters. We’ll move on from this one tonight.”

Mason Marchment scored midway through the third period. He scored after his initial shot bounced to Tyler Seguin off the backboards; Seguin’s attempted shot went to Marchment for the tap in.

“Just gutting is the only word I can feel when you lose a game like that,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “Proud of our group, proud of our fight, proud of our battle. We’re just gutted. They did leave it all out there. We should be playing for a Game 7. Have to give Edmonton credit for their power play, in particular over the last two games, was good. Their goaltending was good.”

Dallas outshot the Oilers, 14-2, in the third period.

“It’s fine lines when you get to this time of the year,” DeBoer said. “I thought we had a little bit of an off night in Game 5 and they won (3-1 on Friday), and they had a bit of an off night tonight and they still found a way to win. That’s the difference. … I don’t know what to say. Tough to swallow.”

Jake Oettinger made eight saves in the loss.

“There wasn’t a moment in this series until the buzzer just now where I thought we weren’t going to win or didn’t deserve to win or thought we could earn it and we didn’t,” Seguin said. “That’s what playoff hockey is.

“When you have those opportunities — there’s a lot of emotion right now, a lot of disappointment, but heck yeah, had a ton of fun, too. We had a blast being in these big moments, guys grinding and the ups and downs. I love this [stuff], so that was awesome.”

In Sunrise, the New York Rangers’ offense betrayed one final time on Saturday night.

In Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final, the Rangers fell, 2-1 to the Panthers.

“Last year was the first year we went that far and it felt amazing,” the Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov said. “You wanted to do everything you could to get back here. We all know it’s not one big thing, it’s not one day. You have to start the grind in the summer, in training camp. … We all had the same goal to get better and get back. Here we are again.”

The Panthers now move on to the Stanley Cup Final, and Rangers fans need to wait at least one more, 31, since the their last Cup.

Sam Bennett scored with 50 seconds left in the opening stanza to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored midway through the third period to extend the lead to 2-0.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves in the win.

“It was difficult to score, generating the quality we wanted to generate,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “We knew that coming in from the way [Florida] finished the season and from the first and second round. They weren’t giving up a lot. Ultimately, it is something we were able to do pretty consistently through the course of the year. Look at the scores, the games. Low-scoring, one-goal games. Ultimately, finding the next goal inside of a game could be the difference.”

Artemi Panarin finally got the Rangers on the board with 1:50 left on the game clock to make it 2-1.

That was all the offense they would mister.

Another one-goal loss, in a dismal Conference Final series.

Igor Shesterkin made 32 saves in the loss, and should sue the Rangers for non support.

“I don’t think you can say they don’t deserve to win,” the Rangers’ Jacob Trouba said. “I think they definitely deserved to win series. We were right there but just came up a little short.”

What was different in Dallas on Friday night was the team breaking out on top, stayed on top for the win.

The Edmonton Oilers took a 3-0 lead after the first 40 minutes of Game 5, and held on for a 3-1 win, and a 3-2 series lead headed home for Game 6 on Sunday.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit for a double in the game, both goals coming on the power play..

“He gets asked to do so much on this team, whether it’s on the kill, big draws on the kill, he’s got a big responsibility on the power play,” Edmonton’s Connor McDavid said. “He’s asked to do everything and always delivers, and tonight was big. He was awesome.”

Nugent-Hopkins potted his first at 14:09 of the opening stanza for a 1-0 lead to the Oilers. He scored off a rebound with a backhand.

“He is one of the best two-way players in the League,” Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner said. “It’s pretty remarkable what this guy does, his work ethic day in and day out. But I’m more impressed with just the type of person that he is. When he’s off the ice, the type of leader that he is. As a young guy, he was obviously my favorite player growing up, and being able to play with him, I’ve learned that there’s a lot more to him than just hockey. That’s one of the coolest things I’ve been able to watch and become great friends with this guy.”

Nugent-Hopkins picked up his double in the middle frame, scoring 66 seconds gone in the frame for the 2-0 lead. He scored off a wrister from the high slot.

“It looks like we were on our heels a little too much,” Dallas’ Matt Duchene said. “Sometimes when you want something so bad, you want to try and be too perfect. We’ve been in this situation before. We’ve had a Game 7 already (a 2-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round). This team we’re playing has had the same situation that we’re going into right now (trailing its second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks 3-2). This team, we’re never out of it. We’ve got a great hockey team and a lot of character in this room, and there will be no quit.”

Skinner made 19 saves in the win.

Philip Broberg extended the Oilers advantage to 3-0 at 5:09 of the second period.

Wyatt Johnston closed the gap to 3- 1 at 14:09 of the third period, scoring off a deflection of a point shot from Thomas Harley.

“They’ve done a good job these last two games. I don’t think we’ve done our best,” Johnston said. “All that matters is making sure we’re ready to go next game. We have the confidence that if we can play our best game, we can beat anyone. It’s just a matter of us doing that next game, putting our best game on the ice and having that desperation level. We have that confidence to do that.”

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Jake Oettinger made 23 saves in the loss.

“This is the fun part,” Dallas forward Tyler Seguin said  “What do you have to lose here? We’ve taken pride in how we’ve been on the road all year, so let’s do it.”

In New York, the Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the middle frame on a shorthanded goal by Chris Kreider at 2:04.

It provided a lift to New York but it was short-lived.

The Panthers tied the game, 1-1, on a goal by Gustav Forsling  8:21, scoring off a backhand.

The score stayed that way into the third period where the Panthers added a pair of lead to take a 3-1 lead, en route to a 3-2 win, and a 3-2 series lead over the Rangers.

“It was a good battle by us,” the Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov said. “We showed up and played really well and happy for the win. Now we just got to recover and think about the next one.”

Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves in the win.

“Guys do their job,” Bobrovsky said. “They just work hard. They have a tendency … they play loose and they just work hard. [The Rangers have] got a really good power play. They got really good weapons, there are guys.”

Game 6 is set for Sunrise on Saturday.

“Tight game, pretty much a one-goal game difference throughout,” the Rangers’ Jacob Trouba said. “We had some good looks and some rebounds. We got to find a way to get a couple more past [Bobrovsky].”

Midway through the third period, Anton Lundell hit for what would be the game winner, and a 2-1 advantage.

“That was huge,” Lundell said. “We had some good chances in the third and we were playing pretty good. … I felt like we just had chance after chance and we just kept grinding and trusted that we’re going to get the chance and the goal, and we got it. We really just tried to stay on top of them and keep the lead.”Sam Bennett hit an unassisted empty-net goal at 18:09 for the 3-1 lead.

“Our approach is one game at a time,” Bennett said. “We’ve got business to take care of still and all we’re thinking about is Game 6 at home. Our entire focus is on that game right now.”

Alexis Lafreniere scored with the extra attacker at 19:10 to make the 3-2 final.

Igor Shesterkin made 35 saves in the loss.

“A lot of confidence,” the Rangers’ Adam Fox said. “Backs against the wall here. We are a pretty resilient group. I think we have responded well all year to situations where we want to get a win. Obviously, season on the line going there. … Just need to get the win there.”

In Edmonton, it appeared a bit grim for the Oilers early in Game 4 on Wednesday night.

The Dallas Stars jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Wyatt Johnston and Esa Lindell.

Dallas was staked to a 1-0 lead with 58 seconds gone in the opening stanza. Johnston picked up a floater of a pass from Jamie Benn, and broke in for a shot form the left circle.

Lindell pushed the lead to 2-0 at 5:29 of the first, scoring off a wrist shot from the point.

“We got up 2-0, got the start we wanted, but I don’t think we had enough guys playing at a high enough level,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “The rest of the game they were the better team. That’s the bottom line.”

From there it was all Edmonton.

The Oilers scored five unanswered goals to take a 5-2 win, to tie the series, 2-2, headed to Dallas.

“We’ll reset here, going to learn from it, and we’ve got a great opportunity in front of us,” Dallas’ Jamie Benn said. “Best-of-3 on home ice here, so we’re looking forward to it.”

The Oilers’ Ryan McLeod trimmed the deficit to 2-1 at 13:30 of the first.

Stuart Skinner made 20 saves in the win.

“I was thinking it was going to be a long night,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Yeah, it didn’t look very good. Things weren’t going our way. They looked much sharper making plays.

“It wasn’t the start [we wanted], but you’ve seen this right through the series where both teams have absolutely dominated, and then the other team has dominated. Like, it’s been back-and-forth.”

He scored off an errant puck at the post.

Still in the first period, Evan Bouchard knotted the game, 2-2, at 16:17. of the first, He scored off a rebound of a shot by Connor McDavid.

Mattias Janmark  put the Oilers ahead, 3-2, at 14:31 of the middle frame, scoring a shorthanded marker from the right circle.

“We’ve been confident lately, have a good kill in this series. So, we got them a little bit on their heels today, I think,” Janmark said. “We played to our structure there on the goal and we got a big block from Nurse.”1

The goal was a dagger to the Stars’ confidence.

“Yeah, that was kind of a kick in the butt,” Benn said. “Their PK’s good. I think they’ve been pretty good all playoffs. They put a lot of pressure on you and we’ll have to find a way to get a little creative here and try and break it down.”

Leon Draisaitl then added to the Dallas woes with a goal just 51 seconds later for a 4-2 lead. He scored off a rush up ice with Zach Hyman, hitting off a give0and-go.

“I think maybe we were a little sleepy for a couple minutes there (in the first period),” Draisaitl said. “… But we found our legs, got going a little bit, started to play our game. Stayed fresh, rolled lines, and obviously we’re a tough team to handle when we play that way.”

Mattias Ekholm hit an empty net with a long range strike for the Oilers’ zone at 18:07 of the third period for the 5-2 final count on the scoreboard.

Jake Oettinger made 24 saves in the loss.

In Sunrise, Sam Reinhart hit for his for the game winner for the Panthers, with 72 seconds gone in extra time on Tuesday night to give the Panthers a 3-2 win in Game 4.“Well, if he’s open, obviously we want to look for him, and he’s in the slot and just get the puck to him,” The Panthers’ Alexander Barkov said of Reinhart. “Obviously, he’s scored a lot of goals from there and works really hard in the practices shooting from there, so you want to get the puck to him, and that’s what happened.”

The win knots the Easter Conferee Final at 2-2.

“Confidence was good,” Reinhart said. “When the game is tight and with the way we play, we’re going to generate chances. The more we can stick with it, the more we can stick to our structure, the more comfortable we’ll be, and you’ve got to believe that one is going to go in.”

Game 5 is set for Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

“Especially in the second, there was a lot of heat there,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “We ended up going out in the third trying to force it to get that thing tied up. We did. Just not the way we wanted to get into that in overtime that quick.”

The Rangers tied the game, 2-2, on a power play, early in the third period on a Alexis Lafreniere’s seventh goal of the post season, and fourth in the last three games.

He  scored off a wrist shot form the right circle at 3:28 of the third.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves in the win.

“We wanted it so bad. I think we were gripping our sticks a little tight in the first,” Bennett said. “Then we started to loosen up and just relax, started making more plays, got back to our game that we’ve had success with all year. It was good composure by our part, and we just calmed down in the second and third there.”

New York took a 1-0 lead on a power play goal from Vincent Trocheck at 8:51 of the opening stanza.

“I think we sat back a little bit in the second and allowed them to kind of dictate the period,” New York’s Mika Zibanejad said. “We played a pretty good first period, set ourselves up. The second period was not what we wanted. Good job in the third tying the game up and giving ourselves a chance. Overall, not the result we wanted. It’s best-of-3. We go home and try to take care of Game 5.”

The Panthers replied with a pair of strikes to take a 2-1 lead.

Sam Bennett tied the game, 1-1, art 8:45 of the middle frame on a tip in.

“I thought we were tight. That’s the best way I can describe it,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said of the first period. “Both teams want it so bad, they’ve invested so much hard work to get here. I just thought we were tight, and then after the first we just played. It wasn’t more coaching, I would say less. I don’t have a better explanation for it. I don’t think that I wind them up hard before a game, but you never know what your impact is. My conversation after the first was I thought we were tight, and we don’t play that way.”

Carter Verhaeghe  scored off the power play at 12:16 in the second to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead.

Igor Shesterkin made 37 saves in the loss.

“We’re playing a team that’s good on the power play and the penalty kill,” Laviolette said. “… They got us tonight. Tomorrow is a new day.”