(WGR 550) - Eight teams entered, only two remain in the Western Conference Playoffs.
Through the opening two rounds of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, it is the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars that will battle for the right to represent the West in the Stanley Cup Final.
This will be the second time in the last four seasons both teams will meet in the Western Conference Final, as the Golden Knights and Stars met in the COVID-19 bubble during the 2020 playoffs in Edmonton. In that series, it was Dallas surprising the favored Golden Knights in five games to take on the eventual champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
Game 1 of the Western Conference Final is set to get underway Friday night in Vegas at T-Mobile Arena.
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How did the Golden Knights and Stars get to this point? Let's take a look back at Round 2 action of the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
Golden Knights dispose of Oilers, 4-2
There are many who believed heading into this series the winner of this matchup would go on to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final. In the battle of Connor McDavid vs. Jack Eichel - picks No. 1 and 2 respectively in the 2015 NHL Draft - it was the star center from Vegas upending the reigning NHL MVP.
Eichel was a force for the Golden Knights in Round 2 of the playoffs, leading the team with nine points (3+6) in six games played. He was also a plus-9 against the Oilers with a 13.6% shooting rate and an average of 19:13 of ice-time per-game.
In 11 games to this point in the playoffs, Eichel leads the Golden Knights with 14 points (6+8) and is now third in league scoring among active players remaining in the postseason. It has helped his odds in Vegas of winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff MVP skyrocket.
As for the other members of Eichel's line, Jonathan Marchessault scored a hat-trick in Game 6 of the series to help sink Edmonton's dreams of a Stanley Cup. In the final four games of the series, he accounted for five goals and three assists for eight points.
Also, Ivan Barbashev has been a wonderful addition to the group since the NHL Trade Deadline. He finished the series with six points (3+3) in six games played, shooting at a 30% rate.
Overall this postseason, Marchessault has 10 points (5+5) and Barbashev has nine points (4+5) in 11 games.
The rest of the group in the series provided enough scoring and contribution to outlast McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the other high-powered weapons the Oilers have. When it mattered most, Vegas' depth came through for the team when they needed them.
In goal, the Golden Knights turned to Laurent Brossoit in the opening round and did what he needed to in order to take down the Winnipeg Jets. However, he was shaky in three games played this series against Edmonton with a 1-1 record, a 5.38 goals-against average and an .841 save percentage.
Unfortunately for Brossoit, he left the series early due to injury, opening the door for Adin Hill to take over.
Once Hill took the reins in net, he provided some much-needed stability in goal. In his five games played in the series, Hill went 3-1 with a 2.19 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage.
As for the Oilers, they got the scoring from the likes of McDavid (10 points), Draisaitl (7 points), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (7 points), Evan Bouchard (7 points) and Zach Hyman (7 points). Other than that...
Edmonton certainly had a better talent pool of depth than in recent years, but the Oilers failed to get any sort of meaningful contribution in the series from players like Kailer Yamamoto, Warren Foegele, Nick Bjugstad, Klim Kostin, Evander Kane and Mattias Janmark.
What that also speaks to is the lack of production at 5-on-5. The Oilers' power play was stellar all playoffs, converting at a 39.1% rate. However, when the Golden Knights played smart and didn't take penalties, Edmonton could not find any sort of production, getting outscored 18-9 at even strength.
Meanwhile, the Oilers officially turned to Calder Trophy finalist Stuart Skinner in goal for the series against Vegas. However, his play in goal was subpar from where he had played in the regular season.
In his six games played this postseason, Skinner went 2-4 with a 3.97 goals-against average and an .875 save percentage. He failed to make some timely saves when needed, which also resulted in him getting pulled for Jack Campbell three times in the series.
As Vegas moves on to their fourth conference final/Stanley Cup Semifinal round in six seasons in the league, the Oilers are, once again, left with more questions than answers heading into the offseason.
Stars outlast Kraken, 4-3
This was, arguably, the most even and most competitive series of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, with Dallas just barely squeaking past the No. 1 Wild Card team in the Western Conference.
Starting with the Stars, their best player over the course of the entire postseason has been Roope Hintz. The 26-year-old has really come into form as Dallas' No. 1 center over the last few seasons, and his play in the postseason has shown what's to come over the next several years.
While he wasn't the leading scorer for the Stars in the series with seven points (4+3), he was the difference maker on a number of occasions for the Stars. This included the game's opening goal in Game 7 on home ice to get Dallas on the board.
As it stands, Hintz leads all players in the postseason in scoring with 19 points (9+10) in 13 games.
Meanwhile, Joe Pavelski continues to be the ageless wonder in the NHL. After missing most of Dallas' opening round series against the Minnesota Wild due to a concussion, the 38-year-old opened the series with a four-goal effort in a Game 1 overtime loss.
He ended up leading the Stars in scoring in the series with eight goals and an assist for nine points.
Max Domi's play in Round 2 of the playoffs certainly surprised some. The Stars' NHL Trade Deadline acquisition added eight points (2+6) to his playoff total of 11 points in 13 games played.
While Jason Robertson managed to put up five points for the Stars in the second round of the playoffs, he struggled to find a groove with the puck on his stick. The 23-year-old, who's scored 83 goals over the last two seasons, has only scored two goals in the playoffs and has gone seven games without a goal for Dallas.
While Jake Oettinger was not perfect in Dallas' second round series with Seattle, the 24-year-old was certainly on his game when the Stars needed him most.
Despite registering a 3.50 goals-against average, an .877 save percentage and being pulled twice for Scott Wedgewood in the series, Oettinger was able to bounce back and carry the Stars to four important victories in Games 2, 4, 5 and 7.
In fact, Oettinger has been great throughout his career following a loss. Just this season and into the postseason, he went 22-1-3 with a .933 save percentage and four shutouts.
At the other end of the ice, Philipp Grubauer has returned to form for the Kraken over the course of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. While his Round 2 numbers may not reflect that with a 3.55 goals-against average and an .874 save percentage, the 31-year-old was on top of his game in a number of games in the series, including their Game 7 loss with 26 saves.
While Seattle was able to get ample contribution up-and-down the lineup, it wasn't enough to be able to down the Stars in the series. They often found themselves trailing Dallas early in games before finding any sort of response, which was a result of not finding their game until it was too late.
Jordan Eberle led the way in scoring for Seattle with eight points (5+3), while Yanni Gourde chipped in with seven points (3+4), and Matty Beniers (2+4) and Vince Dunn (0+6) each contributed six points for the Kraken in the series.
Where the scoring failed to come for the Kraken was on the power play, as Seattle only went 2-for-14 in the series against the Stars with the man advantage.
As Dallas advances for a rematch with the Golden Knights of the 2020 Western Conference Final, the Kraken have to hold their heads high after a stellar playoffs that saw them knock off the defending Stanley Cup champions and a near series win in Round 2.
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