<p>The final four have been set and one of them will be lifting the Stanley Cup in a months time.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Out east, the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/nhls-conference-finals-set-as-panthers-eliminate-leafs">Carolina Hurricanes will have home-ice advantage over the Florida Panthers</a>, while in the West, it’s the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/17/rivalry-renewed-edmonton-oilers-dallas-starswestern-conference-final-second-straight-year/">Dallas Stars having home-ice over the Edmonton Oilers</a>.</p>
<p>All four teams had various levels of challenges to advance to where they are.</p>
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<p>Carolina was able to cruise through the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/04/18/playoff-preview-devils-hurricanes/">New Jersey Devils</a> and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/06/playoff-preview-carolina-hurricanes-washington-capitals/">Washington Capitals</a> in the first two rounds, beating each opponent in five games, suffering just two losses along the way.</p>
<p>Florida was able to beat the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/04/22/playoff-preview-panthers-stanley-cup-defence-face-lightning/">Tampa Bay Lightning</a> in five in their opening round, but capped off a back-and-forth seven-game series against the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/05/playoff-preview-maple-leafs-panthers/">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> in which they faced a 2-0 deficit to start.</p>
<p>Dallas, meanwhile, was in a battle early with the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/04/15/playoff-preview-avs-stars-contenders-first-round/">Colorado Avalanche</a> that went to seven games, while they dispatched the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/07/playoff-preview-winnipeg-jets-dallas-stars/">Winnipeg Jets</a> in six.</p>
<p>Edmonton, of course, faced a 2-0 deficit to open their playoffs against the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/15/nhl-notebook-edmonton-oilers-best-hockey-connor-mcdavid-leon-draisaitl-era-jim-hiller-staying-on-los-angeles-kings/">Los Angeles Kings</a>, but won four straight games to advance to the second round, rolling the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/15/oilers-golden-knights-game-5-tactical-review/">Vegas Golden Knights in five games</a>.</p>
<p>Now, for the second straight year, these four teams have earned a berth in the Western Conference Finals. The Eastern Conference matchup kicks off Tuesday night, while the Western portion of the bracket does so Wednesday.</p>
<p>Here’s five notable statistics from the playoffs so far:</p>
<h2>Home ice in the finals</h2>
<p>Whoever advances out of the Western Conference will hold home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals.</p>
<p>Home-ice in the finals always belongs to the team with the best regular season record, and of the final four teams remaining, that belongs to the Dallas Stars.</p>
<p>Here are each of their regular season records:</p>
<p>Dallas: 6th — 50-26-6, 106 points, .646 points percentage.</p>
<p>Edmonton: 9th — 48-29-5, 101 points, .616 points percentage.</p>
<p>Carolina: 10th — 47-30-5, 99 points, .604 points percentage.</p>
<p>Florida: 11th — 47-31-4 record, 98 points, .598 points percentage.</p>
<h2>Clinching in key moments</h2>
<p>All of the Oilers, Stars and Hurricanes punched their tickets to the Conference Finals in nail-biting ways.</p>
<p>Carolina scored their series-clinching goal in the final two minutes of Game 5 against Washington when Andrei Svechnikov&#8217;s low-angle shot found it&#8217;s way in. Dallas&#8217; series-clincher came a minute and a half into overtime on the power play, when Tyler Seguin set up Thomas Harley in the slot. Edmonton&#8217;s was also in overtime when just over seven minutes into Game 5 against Vegas, Kasperi Kapanen jammed a loose puck into the Golden Knights net.</p>
<p>Even beyond that, eight of the 12 series-clinching goals these playoffs either came in overtime or in the final 10 minutes of regulation. It ties for the second most in any playoff season in NHL history, trailing 2020&#8217;s nine.</p>
<h2>Sweep free</h2>
<p>This year&#8217;s playoffs have marked the eighth in the NHL&#8217;s expansion era — which began in 1967-68 — and just the third in the last six in which there were no best-of-seven sweeps through the second round.</p>
<p>Will that continue into the Conference Finals? If so, it would become the fifth time in which there&#8217;s no sweeps through three rounds, following 2020, 2016, 2002 and 1991, which lasted all four rounds, and 1973, which playoffs lasted just three rounds.</p>
<p>The most recent series sweet came during last year&#8217;s years opening round, when the New York Rangers dispatched the Washington Capitals in just four games.</p>
<h2>Comeback kids keep it up</h2>
<p>The Edmonton Oilers made NHL history these playoffs becoming the first team to have five, and later six, consecutive come-from-behind wins. They came in Games 3 through 6 of their series against the Los Angeles Kings, and in the first two games of their second round series against Vegas.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s been plenty of other comebacks in the playoffs, with 29 of 70 games featuring one, marking 41 percent of the games. There&#8217;s only three other playoffs since 2014 in which there were as many comebacks at this point: 2024 (49 percent), 2016 (46 percent) and 2021 (43 percent).</p>
<h2>And then there was one&#8230;</h2>
<p>Just one Canadian team remains in the playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers, with the Toronto Maple Leafs being eliminated in Game 7 Sunday night by the Panthers.</p>
<p>There were five teams north of the 49th Parallel to qualify for postseason play this year, with the Oilers the only team who has hopes of bringing a Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993.</p>
<p>While the Winnipeg Jets found a way to beat the St. Louis Blues in round one, they fell to Dallas in the second. The aforementioned Leafs knocked off another Canadian team in the first round, the Ottawa Senators, while the Montreal Canadiens were no match for the Caps, falling in five games.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, there&#8217;s a story to follow south of the border with the remaining American teams, all of which have played in their current locations for less than 35 years. The Stars arrived in Dallas in 1993-94, moving from Minnesota, the same year the Florida Panthers arrived as an expansion team. The Hurricanes moved toCarolina in 1997-98, previously having been in Hartford.</p>
<p>The Eastern Conference Final marks the sixth time two teams in the Sunbelt have met in the round before the final, following the Panthers and Hurricanes in 2023, the Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes in 2012, the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators in 2017, and the Stars and Golden Knights in both 2020 and 2023.</p>
<hr />
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QX_QCiZyIo&amp;list=PLRSWOpthKmdtmFOKQDd7TQdTU2KSKXYvX">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at</span></i> <em><a href="http://www.x.com/zjlaing"><span style="font-weight: 400;">@zjlaing</span></a></em><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>,</em> or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.</span></i></p>
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Winnipeg Jets Dallas Stars Edmonton Oilers Vegas Golden Knights Carolina Hurricanes Washington Capitals Florida Panthers Toronto Maple Leafs

The final four have been set and one of them will be lifting the Stanley Cup in a months time.



Out east, the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/nhls-conference-finals-set-as-panthers-eliminate-leafs">Carolina Hurricanes will have home-ice advantage over the Florida Panthers</a>, while in the West, it’s the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/17/rivalry-renewed-edmonton-oilers-dallas-starswestern-conference-final-second-straight-year/">Dallas Stars having home-ice over the Edmonton Oilers</a>.

All four teams had various levels of challenges to advance to where they are.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2107" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="325"></div>
Carolina was able to cruise through the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/04/18/playoff-preview-devils-hurricanes/">New Jersey Devils</a> and <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/06/playoff-preview-carolina-hurricanes-washington-capitals/">Washington Capitals</a> in the first two rounds, beating each opponent in five games, suffering just two losses along the way.

Florida was able to beat the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/04/22/playoff-preview-panthers-stanley-cup-defence-face-lightning/">Tampa Bay Lightning</a> in five in their opening round, but capped off a back-and-forth seven-game series against the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/05/playoff-preview-maple-leafs-panthers/">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> in which they faced a 2-0 deficit to start.

Dallas, meanwhile, was in a battle early with the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/04/15/playoff-preview-avs-stars-contenders-first-round/">Colorado Avalanche</a> that went to seven games, while they dispatched the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/07/playoff-preview-winnipeg-jets-dallas-stars/">Winnipeg Jets</a> in six.

Edmonton, of course, faced a 2-0 deficit to open their playoffs against the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/15/nhl-notebook-edmonton-oilers-best-hockey-connor-mcdavid-leon-draisaitl-era-jim-hiller-staying-on-los-angeles-kings/">Los Angeles Kings</a>, but won four straight games to advance to the second round, rolling the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/05/15/oilers-golden-knights-game-5-tactical-review/">Vegas Golden Knights in five games</a>.

Now, for the second straight year, these four teams have earned a berth in the Western Conference Finals. The Eastern Conference matchup kicks off Tuesday night, while the Western portion of the bracket does so Wednesday.

Here’s five notable statistics from the playoffs so far:
<h2>Home ice in the finals</h2>
Whoever advances out of the Western Conference will hold home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Home-ice in the finals always belongs to the team with the best regular season record, and of the final four teams remaining, that belongs to the Dallas Stars.

Here are each of their regular season records:

Dallas: 6th — 50-26-6, 106 points, .646 points percentage.

Edmonton: 9th — 48-29-5, 101 points, .616 points percentage.

Carolina: 10th — 47-30-5, 99 points, .604 points percentage.

Florida: 11th — 47-31-4 record, 98 points, .598 points percentage.
<h2>Clinching in key moments</h2>
All of the Oilers, Stars and Hurricanes punched their tickets to the Conference Finals in nail-biting ways.

Carolina scored their series-clinching goal in the final two minutes of Game 5 against Washington when Andrei Svechnikov's low-angle shot found it's way in. Dallas' series-clincher came a minute and a half into overtime on the power play, when Tyler Seguin set up Thomas Harley in the slot. Edmonton's was also in overtime when just over seven minutes into Game 5 against Vegas, Kasperi Kapanen jammed a loose puck into the Golden Knights net.

Even beyond that, eight of the 12 series-clinching goals these playoffs either came in overtime or in the final 10 minutes of regulation. It ties for the second most in any playoff season in NHL history, trailing 2020's nine.
<h2>Sweep free</h2>
This year's playoffs have marked the eighth in the NHL's expansion era — which began in 1967-68 — and just the third in the last six in which there were no best-of-seven sweeps through the second round.

Will that continue into the Conference Finals? If so, it would become the fifth time in which there's no sweeps through three rounds, following 2020, 2016, 2002 and 1991, which lasted all four rounds, and 1973, which playoffs lasted just three rounds.

The most recent series sweet came during last year's years opening round, when the New York Rangers dispatched the Washington Capitals in just four games.
<h2>Comeback kids keep it up</h2>
The Edmonton Oilers made NHL history these playoffs becoming the first team to have five, and later six, consecutive come-from-behind wins. They came in Games 3 through 6 of their series against the Los Angeles Kings, and in the first two games of their second round series against Vegas.

There's been plenty of other comebacks in the playoffs, with 29 of 70 games featuring one, marking 41 percent of the games. There's only three other playoffs since 2014 in which there were as many comebacks at this point: 2024 (49 percent), 2016 (46 percent) and 2021 (43 percent).
<h2>And then there was one...</h2>
Just one Canadian team remains in the playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers, with the Toronto Maple Leafs being eliminated in Game 7 Sunday night by the Panthers.

There were five teams north of the 49th Parallel to qualify for postseason play this year, with the Oilers the only team who has hopes of bringing a Stanley Cup back to Canada for the first time since 1993.

While the Winnipeg Jets found a way to beat the St. Louis Blues in round one, they fell to Dallas in the second. The aforementioned Leafs knocked off another Canadian team in the first round, the Ottawa Senators, while the Montreal Canadiens were no match for the Caps, falling in five games.

Interestingly enough, there's a story to follow south of the border with the remaining American teams, all of which have played in their current locations for less than 35 years. The Stars arrived in Dallas in 1993-94, moving from Minnesota, the same year the Florida Panthers arrived as an expansion team. The Hurricanes moved toCarolina in 1997-98, previously having been in Hartford.

The Eastern Conference Final marks the sixth time two teams in the Sunbelt have met in the round before the final, following the Panthers and Hurricanes in 2023, the Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes in 2012, the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators in 2017, and the Stars and Golden Knights in both 2020 and 2023.

<hr />

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QX_QCiZyIo&amp;list=PLRSWOpthKmdtmFOKQDd7TQdTU2KSKXYvX">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at</span></i> <em><a href="http://www.x.com/zjlaing"><span style="font-weight: 400;">@zjlaing</span></a></em><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>,</em> or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.</span></i>

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