The Edmonton Oilers are returning to the Stanley Cup Final. This time, they hope to finish the job against the Florida Panthers. Could be quite the series.

Edmonton 6, Dallas 3 (Oilers win series 4-1)

The Oilers scored three goals in the first eight minutes of Game 5. From there, they let the Stars get within a goal at two different moments during the game, but the Oilers would restore the two-goal lead shortly after.

The story of this game was Pete DeBoer's decision to replace Jake Oettinger with Casey DeSmith after Oettinger allowed two goals on the first two shots of the game. Perhaps the goalie change gave the Stars a reset, but DeSmith didn't exactly bail out the Stars (3 GA on 20 SA). I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense to have your starting goalie sitting on the bench during an elimination game while opting for a backup goalie who had not seen any game action since the first round. The Stars might have lost regardless of who was in net, but this decision was a head scratcher.

"And Jake Oettinger allows 2 goals on 2 shots and he's right next to me isn't he" ☠️☠️☠️ pic.twitter.com/zCtU64FKBE

— DLLS Stars (@DLLS_Stars) May 30, 2025

Oettinger's numbers during the Conference Final: 3.93 GAA, .853 SV%, 1 QS, 2 RBS. Not his best series, but he was facing an opponent firing on all cylinders.

Connor McDavid scored another one of his breakaway goals while adding an assist, giving him nine points over the five-game series.

OH MY CONNOR MCDAVID 🥵🥵 pic.twitter.com/O62mJb5L2w

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 30, 2025

Corey Perry scored his seventh goal of the postseason, tying him with Leon Draisaitl for the team lead. No one would have called that, but that's quite an impressive return if you drafted him in your playoff pool. Boosting his value even further, Perry scored his Game 5 goal on the top power play, where he replaced the injured Zach Hyman.

The 40-year-old Perry will be playing in the Stanley Cup Final for the fifth time over the last six seasons, although he is 0-4 in his previous four trips to the final. Before you feel sorry for him, remember that he won a Stanley Cup with Anaheim early in his career.

Corey Perry has played an ABSURD amount of playoff hockey in his career 🤯

(h/t @Sportsnet) pic.twitter.com/j9dITF2glU

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) May 28, 2025

Hyman's injury also resulted in Jeff Skinner re-entering the lineup for the first time since Game 1 of the first round. Skinner scored a goal while on a line with Adam Henrique and Trent Frederic. You'd have to figure that Skinner will remain in the lineup with Hyman (upper body) out for the rest of the playoffs. Skinner's playoff journey has been unusual and highly disappointing, having never played in a playoff game prior to this season. Yet he has a chance to win a Stanley Cup while hardly breaking a sweat (literally) in his playoff career.    

Mattias Ekholm made his playoff debut in Game 5 after being sidelined with an undisclosed injury. Ekholm registered an assist in 15:52 while returning to the top pairing with Evan Bouchard. To make room for Ekholm, the hard-working Troy Stecher was made a healthy scratch.

Mattias Janmark, Evander Kane, and Kasperi Kapanen scored the Oilers' other goals. Draisaitl and Jake Walman each added two assists. Draisaitl has piled up 10 points over his last six games, while Walman has four points in his last four games.

Jason Robertson scored two of the Stars' goals. After a dry spell of no goals in his first eight playoff games, Robertson heated up in the Conference Final with four goals in his last three games while averaging four shots per game over those three games. Too little, too late for the Stars, unfortunately.

Roope Hintz scored the Stars' other goal, a power-play marker.

Thomas Harley and Wyatt Johnston each finished with two assists. Johnston was a plus-2 in this game, raising his plus-minus to minus-16! That's tied with Matt Duchene for the worst plus-minus of the playoffs.

Duchene finished the playoffs with no points in his last four games and just six points in 18 playoff games. In falling short of a conference championship, the Stars can point to a lack of production from Duchene and Jamie Benn (3 PTS in 18 GP). Benn was also a minus-11 during the playoffs. Both veterans are UFAs this offseason, so their futures in Dallas are very much up in the air.  

Dallas had a widespread secondary scoring problem throughout the playoffs. In addition to Duchene and Benn, Tyler Seguin finished the playoffs with eight points in 18 games, Mason Marchment had just five points in 18 games, while Evgenii Dadonov had four points in 16 games. After the Conference Finals, Mikko Rantanen is the only Star in the top 10 in playoff scoring. I wouldn't be surprised if the Stars make quite a few roster changes this offseason to surround Rantanen and their other core players.

In a glimpse into the future, Mavrik Bourque entered the Stars' lineup for the first time since the first round. Bourque played just 7:47, but he was a plus-1 and had three shots on goal.

The Stanley Cup Final begins on Wednesday. Look for our writers to provide their Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe picks before the puck drops for Game 1. The Oilers will be hoping they can follow the same pattern with the Panthers as the Oilers squad of the 1980s did with the Islanders, losing in the 1983 final before knocking off the Islanders for their first cup in 1984.

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Flying completely under the radar during Game 5, the Seattle Kraken announced Lane Lambert as their new head coach. Lambert previously coached the Islanders for a season and a half before being replaced by Patrick Roy. The Kraken didn't exactly make a splash in hiring Lambert, both in terms the coach himself and the timing. However, coaches learning and improving from their previous stints is something that should be accounted for.

Lambert has plenty of coaching experience, both as a head coach in the WHL and AHL and as an assistant coach in the NHL. His job will be to get the most out of a rather ordinary Seattle roster. His strength was defensive play when coaching the Islanders, which probably won't be fantasy friendly but could be beneficial for Joey Daccord.

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False alarm on an Alex Ovechkin retirement from the NHL in 2026, at least for now. Capitals season-ticket holders were reportedly sent an email that 2025-26 would be Ovechkin's final season, but the team said the statement was made in error. Despite the denial, it's still possible that Ovechkin doesn't sign another NHL contract after his current contract expires next offseason now that he has broken the goal record.

Ovechkin retiring after 2025-26 would greatly affect the Capitals' window of competing, as he led the team in goals (44) and finished second in points (73) despite missing 17 games. For now, assume that window is one more season but unknown beyond that. Anyone with Ovechkin in a keeper league should simply be thinking year to year anyway, since Ovechkin will turn 40 about when training camp is starting.   

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According to Pierre LeBrun, Jonathan Toews has told his agent that he is 100 percent committed to returning to the NHL next season. Toews has missed the past two seasons due to chronic immune response syndrome and long COVID. Now 37, Toews finished with 31 points in 53 games in his last NHL seasons. Since he has missed two full seasons and may still be dealing with health complications, expectations from a fantasy perspective should be minimal. However, it is great to see Toews potentially making a return, and it will be interesting to find out where he lands if so.

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The New York Islanders held a press conference on Thursday officially announcing Mathieu Darche as new general manager, with two additional news items surfacing.

First, Patrick Roy will be returning as head coach, although assistant coaches John MacLean and Tommy Albelin were let go. It seems as though Roy is receiving an audition, with Darche likely hiring his own guy should the Islanders stumble in 2025-26.

Also, Bo Horvat will need 4-6 weeks of recovery time from an ankle injury that he suffered during the World Hockey Championship. Based on that timeline, Horvat should be ready for training camp as normal.

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The Flyers have re-signed Tyson Foerster to a two-year contract with a $3.75 million AAV. Foerster has quietly recorded back-to-back 20-goal seasons, including a 25-goal season in 2024-25. That 25-goal total was just one behind Matvei Michkov for the team lead. Foerster is also effective defensively, which should be viewed as a positive under new head coach Rick Tocchet. Although Foerster's career high is 43 points, the Flyers are getting him at a very affordable cap hit, since he is only 23 years of age and has room to grow.

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The Sharks have re-signed defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin to a one-year, $1 million contract. The 23-year-old Mukhamadullin split time between the NHL and AHL last season, finishing with nine points in 30 games at the NHL level. Mukhamadullin underwent surgery following a shoulder injury in early April, but he is expected to be ready for the 2025-26 season. Jan Rutta is set to become an unrestricted free agent, which could free up a full-time roster spot for Mukhamadullin.

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Babe wake up, Dobber made another video! This one is about Marco Rossi, which you can view below.

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I covered Rossi in a recent Ramblings, which you can read about here. For whatever reason, Rossi is believed to be on the trade block. A trade to a team without a Kirill Kaprizov comparable (which there aren't many) could reduce his upside, as could the Wild acquiring a center that they plan to use with Kaprizov while retaining Rossi. But if Rossi remains with the Wild and Kaprizov, he could pay dividends.

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