Edmonton to have ‘different buzz’ for Game 6 against Stars

EDMONTON -- The city of Edmonton was stoked after the Oilers’ 3-1 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final on Friday.

That included former Oilers tough guy Georges Laraque, who remains a cult hero in these parts after playing for Edmonton from 1997-2006. Laraque was among the thousands of frenzied orange-and-blue clad Oilers fans who had jammed into Rogers Place to watch on the center-ice video screen when the visiting Oilers took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series with a huge victory in Dallas.

Minutes after the final buzzer sounded, jubilant supporters poured into the streets, where cars donning Oilers flags blared their horns deep into the night.

Across the street from the arena, whoops of joy came from thousands more who had gathered to watch the game on screens in Ice District Plaza, nicknamed the “Moss Pit” in memory of longtime equipment manager Joey Moss who was born with Down Syndrome and died on Oct. 26, 2020, at 57. Blaring over the loudspeakers was the tune “La Bamba,” Moss’s favorite which the Oilers have since adopted as their victory song in his memory.

In all this celebratory chaos, there was Laraque, posing outside the rink with fans in front of the iconic statue of Wayne Gretzky hoisting the Stanley Cup.

“Therock says to all the fans around the world! Do you smellllll what the @edmontonoilers are cooking?! 5 wins away from the Holy Grail!” he wrote on X.

Believe us, people in the Alberta capital are well aware.

And if the celebration for a road win Friday was any indication, imagine the party that is going to bust out should the Oilers punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final on Sunday. In order to do that, they will need another victory in Game 6 at Rogers Place (8 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, MAX, SN, TVAS) to ignite the festivities.

“The energy is always high in the playoffs in Edmonton, that’s for sure,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. “I think tomorrow there is going to be a different buzz around it.”

That’s because this will be the biggest game to be played here in 18 years.

Edmonton hasn’t reached the Cup Final since 2006, when it lost in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes. Only one other time since then have the Oilers reached the conference final, that coming in 2022 when they were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.

Two years later, they are one win from returning to the Final. And the fans can taste it.

Literally.

Indeed, three blocks from Rogers Place at Campio Brewing Co., you munch on the Big McDavid. Named after Oilers captain Connor McDavid, it’s a delicious deep dish pizza featuring seasoned ground chunks, cheddar cheese, diced onion, chopped pickles, iceberg lettuce, sesame seeds, and the Campio secret sauce.

It’s all part of the frenzy surrounding the anticipation leading up to the game, something Oilers forward Zach Hyman said he and his teammates are very well aware of.

“It’s a huge advantage,” he said. “Our building is hard to play in. I don’t know the last time there was a Game 6 in Edmonton for a chance to go to the Final. It’s a huge opportunity, I think the fans recognize that, I think they’re excited about it. It’s exciting for us too.

“As a fan you can’t be more excited for a chance to win it on home ice, to watch your team play. I’m sure they’re going to be going crazy.”

They already are.

NHL.com staff writer Derek Van Diest contributed to this report