PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Stars (Game 6)
EDMONTON, AB – These are opportunities that don't come around often.
Win one game on home ice, and you're four away from lifting Lord Stanley.
The Oilers can eliminate the Stars and secure their spot in the Stanley Cup Final for the eighth time in franchise history with a victory on Sunday in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place.
“It's a huge opportunity,” Zach Hyman said. “We've set ourselves up well to have a chance to win this series at home. It was a good lesson in the previous series learning how important Game 5 is, but every team plays their best with their backs against the wall. Dallas is a great team and it's going to be a big test for us.”
The Oilers dropped that Game 5 to the Canucks during the Second Round on a last-minute 3-2 defeat that pushed them to the brink, requiring them to rise to the adversity and rattle off two confident wins in Games 6 & 7 to come from behind and push on to the Western Conference Final.
In this series, the Oilers trailed 2-1 after the Stars showed their resilience on the road during Game 3 to turn an early two-goal lead for Edmonton into a 5-3 win, seizing the momentum before it was stolen back by the Blue & Orange over two collected performances in Games 4 & 5 that've earned them their shot on home ice tonight to move on the Stanley Cup Final.
The excitement of having their crowd behind them inside Rogers Place and around ICE District will only add to the motivation of the Oilers players to carry that into another connected 60-minute effort in front of their own fans on Sunday and give them a first chance to cheer on their team in the Final for the first time since 2006.
"It's a huge advantage," said Zach Hyman before Saturday’s flight back to Edmonton. "I think our building is hard to play in. I don't know how many years it's been since the last Game 6 in Edmonton for a chance to go to the Finals, so it's a huge opportunity. I think the fans recognize that. I think they're excited about it. As a fan, you can't be more excited than a chance to win on home ice, to watch your team play, and I'm sure they're going to be going crazy. So it's exciting for us, too."
“The energy is always high in the playoffs in Edmonton, that's for sure,” Leon Draisaitl added. “I think tomorrow there's probably going to be a different buzz around it, and we're going to enjoy that part. But we obviously have one goal tomorrow night and that's just to play our best game.
"We know they're going to bring their best game, so we've got to make sure we're ready to go.