The Edmonton Oilers will host their first game of the Western Conference Final tonight as the Dallas Stars will have to deal with the crowd of Rogers Place tonight. Yesterday I wrote that there is going to be a good battle between the strong home team of the Oilers and the slightlay stronger road team of the Stars.
The thing about the Stars is they have yet to play in a Canadian market. We all know as Oilers fans that there is a difference between playing a road game in an American city versus playing against the fanatics of a Canadian team, the Oilers fans in particular, are one of the loudest.
For the fans to help push this Oilers team to a win the Oilers will need to have a strong start. If the Oilers allow the Stars to control the game early it could take the fan out of the game. On the other hand, if the Oilers ca get on the Stars early then there is no holding the fans back. It has been a long time since the Oilers have had a chance to make the Cup finals and the fans will know that.
Even though it has only been a couple of years since the Oilers faced the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Final, this year is different. That Colorado team was much better than the Oilers team that year, which is why the Oilers got swept by the eventual Cup champions. This year is much different, if anything the Oilers are the better team and deserve to have a chance to win the cup.
The Dallas Stars are a good team as well though, proving they can beat the Oilers in game 2, but just like in game 1 a bounce one way or another could have switched the outcome of either of those two games. I think tonight’s game will not have the same outcome as those last two.
Depending on how the game starts I think it may end up being a one-sided game either way. If either of these teams get up by 2 I think the opposing team will just accept the loss and take their foot off, saving energy for the next game. The good news is I think it will be the Oilers that will end u running away tonight.
The Oilers are favoured to win this game and I agree with those odd makers. The fact that they are coming home to what will be an extremely loud crowd, having split the series in Dallas, should be enough to propel this Edmonton Oilers team to a 2-1 series lead after this game.