Much the same even with some new names as Oilers and Stars meet again in West final

Much is still the same, even though a lot of names have changed for the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers, meeting in the Western Conference final for the second year in a row.

Coaches Pete DeBoer and Kris Knoblauch are still in charge, so the structures are pretty much unchanged for both teams.

Edmonton still has 100-point teammates Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, while Dallas has its core of young scorers like Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson along with veterans Tyler Seguin and captain Jamie Benn.

"There's a few different players playing the series obviously. But in a lot of ways, it's very similar," McDavid said Tuesday.

"Same coach, same systems. ... We haven't changed much, they haven't changed much."

The same 26-year-old goalies will be in net when the series starts Wednesday night — Jake Oettinger for the Stars in their third consecutive West final, and Stuart Skinner for the Oilers, though he had lost his starting job in these NHL playoffs.

"There's lots of things going to be similar," Draisaitl said. "They know how we want to play, and we know how they want to play."

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Still, both the Stars and Oilers had seven players who appeared in last year's series — won by Edmonton in six games — that are no longer on those teams.

The biggest change is midseason trade acquisitions Mikko Rantanen and Mikael Granlund now on the Stars' top line with fellow Finnish player Hintz.

Rantanen is the leading scorer in these NHL playoffs with 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists).

He is just ahead of McDavid with 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) and Draisaitl with 16 (five goals, 11 assists), who aren't alone in scoring now for the Oilers.

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