Edmonton Oilers confident ahead of meeting Dallas Stars again in Western final

It is a well-rested, eager group of Edmonton Oilers who head into the NHL Western Conference final confident they will repeat their 2024 series victory over the Dallas Stars.

"There's lots of things going to be similar," forward Leon Draisaitl said of meeting the Stars for the second straight conference final. "They know how we want to play and we know how they want to play. It's going to come down to execution.

"It's going to be a challenge. They're a good defensive team, lots of good defensive players."

When asked about the Oilers' defence, Draisaitl bristled just a bit, assuring reporters that the team is ready to handle the Stars in the series that begins in Dallas on Wednesday night.

Without even mentioning the back-to-back shutout victories the team posted in finishing off the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round, Draisaitl said the Oilers are "very confident" in their defence.

"We've been a very good defensive team for years now," said the team's playoff goal-scoring leader. "Are we going to give up a couple more goals than we want to now and then? Of course, every team does. It's too hard to shut out every team or just give up one or two goals.

"We're a good, structured defensive team."

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Head coach Kris Knoblauch attributed the team's much improved defensive play, despite the absence of Mattias Ekholm and a number of roster changes, to subtle adjustments and aggressive shot blocking.

"There were a lot of blocked shots," Knoblauch said of the team's shutout victories against the Golden Knights. "And also when you're getting saves you forget about the mistakes."

One of the key defencemen was Darnell Nurse who agreed the Oilers have played