Peter DeBoer had one word to describe his feelings after the Edmonton Oilers eliminated his Dallas Stars with a 2-1 victory in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final on Sunday night.
"'Gutted' is the only word I can feel when you lose a game like that," DeBoer told reporters postgame. "(I'm) proud of our group, proud of our fight, proud of our battle, (but) you're just gutted. They did leave everything out there, (we) should be going to play a Game 7, (but) we're not."
DeBoer tipped his cap to the Oilers, who are heading back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since they lost it in 2006.
"You have to give Edmonton credit," the Dallas bench boss said. "Their power play particularly over the last two games was good, and their goaltender was good. It's fine lines (when) you get to this point of the year."
The Stars kept the Oilers' power play - which ranked fourth in the NHL at 26.3% during the regular season - off the scoresheet over the first four games. But Edmonton's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins struck twice with the man advantage in Game 5, and the Oilers converted both of their chances with the man advantage in Game 6. Dallas went 0-for-14 on the power play in the series.
Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner posted a .900 save percentage over the first four contests but then stopped all but two of 55 shots over the final two tilts for a mark of .964. Connor McDavid said Skinner "absolutely stole" the series-clinching win for Edmonton on Sunday.
DeBoer added that the Stars' elimination was "tough to swallow" considering Dallas hit the post in overtime of Game 1 and ultimately lost on McDavid's goal in the second extra frame.
Veteran Stars forward Tyler Seguin also lamented the end result.
"Hockey's hard," he said. "You need a lot of things to go right. You need to have that opportunity, we had that opportunity. We went through the gauntlet and beat some really good teams (and) knew we had something special. (We) lost to a team we thought we could beat."
Seguin emphasized how slim the margin for error is in the playoffs.
"Sometimes it's that one bounce ... one goal, one save, that's why we all love it," he said. "That's why this is the hardest damn trophy in the world to win."
The Stars lost in the Western Conference Final for the second straight year after the Vegas Golden Knights defeated them in six games en route to a Cup win last June. Dallas got to the championship round in the bubble in 2020, but the Tampa Bay Lightning prevailed in six that year.
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