The Edmonton Oilers beat the Dallas Stars 6-3 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final on Thursday night to set up a second straight meeting with the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.
Captain Connor McDavid led the way with the eventual game-winner and an assist.
"This year it feels a little bit more normal," the superstar told Sportsnet after the victory. "Just been kind of status quo. It's been fun to be a part of. Hasn't been as emotional. Been very, just, kind of direct, smooth and steady. It's been fun."
The Oilers erupted out of the gate with three goals in the opening eight minutes. Corey Perry and Mattias Janmark scored on Edmonton's first two shots of the game to chase Dallas starter Jake Oettinger.
Though the Stars drew within one goal on two occasions, Edmonton was able to respond quickly. McDavid scored a beauty on a breakaway two minutes after Roope Hintz made it 3-2 in the second period, while Evander Kane restored the Oilers' two-goal lead less than three minutes after Jason Robertson struck 38 seconds into the final frame.
Kasperi Kapanen sealed the deal with an empty-netter.
"I liked how we just stuck with it," Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We didn't panic, we just kept on playing our game. They had a couple times where they pushed. ... I thought it was a great team effort."
McDavid assisted on Perry's opening power-play goal for the 100th helper of his postseason career. He hit the mark in his 90th game, becoming the second-fastest player in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky (70 games) to accomplish the feat, per Sportsnet Stats.
The Oilers have now won four straight playoff games by three or more goals for the first time in franchise history.
Depth has been the name of the game for Edmonton this spring. Eight different players have scored at least five goals: Leon Draisaitl, Perry, Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor Brown, McDavid, and Kane.
The Oilers also had eight or more players with at least five playoff goals in 1984, 1985, and 1990, which were all Stanley Cup-winning years for the franchise.
It hasn't all been smooth sailing for the Oilers this postseason, though. They fell in an 0-2 hole to the Los Angeles Kings in the opening round before rattling off four straight wins to advance.
"I think we just found our game," Draisaitl explained when asked what changed for his team. "We found our pieces in the right spot a little bit. ... We're starting to find our stride. Eventually we started to just play good hockey."
Stars head coach Peter DeBoer, meanwhile, tipped his cap to the Oilers after they eliminated his club from the Western Conference Final for a second straight season.
"That Edmonton team's a lot better team than the one we played last year," he said, per The Athletic's Mark Lazerus.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final is slated for Wednesday in Edmonton. Every contest of the series will start at 8 p.m. ET.
"Going up a great team," McDavid said. "Stanley Cup champs of last year, third finals in a row. Not much you can say about them. They're great. We'll have our hands full, but we're a good team. We're a special team, and we feel good about our game."
The Panthers went up 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final last spring and the Oilers fought back to even things up before falling in Game 7. Knoblauch is looking forward to the rematch.
"We're familiar with it, we know what the Stanley Cup Final is going to be like. ... I think maybe we're just, we're waiting for this," he said. "We're waiting for this."
