Most productive player
Three players managed to score nine points during the conference finals, and all of them were from Edmonton. They were Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and we will focus on the first of those.
The Oilers captain scored three goals and set up six, scoring in every game of the series and notching the winning goal twice. His sixteen shots on goal were the best from his team, too.
The Oilers gave him a decent workload; 22 minutes and 10 seconds of average ice time is the most for forwards from all four teams in the round. In addition to all that, McDavid crossed the 20-point mark for the fourth postseason in a row; only three hockey players have done that before him.
Best goaltender
Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky allowed Carolina almost nothing, conceding just eight goals from 124 shots in five games, and three of those came in the fifth and deciding game, which Florida won 5-3.
He averaged just 1.60 goals per game and posted a 93.5% save percentage. In the second game of the series, he picked up his third clean sheet in this year's playoffs and set a new club record.
Highlight of the round
Only three players in this NHL season are older than 40-year-old Corey Perry, Edmonton's provocateur, but an indispensable man for the Canadian club in the knockout stage. Long gone are the days when he was winning Olympic gold with Canada and winning the award for the most productive player and scorer in the entire NHL.
The 2003 first-round draft pick has a completely different role on the ice now - to unsettle opponents, pass on experience and strike when needed. And he's doing a great job; only Leon Draisaitl has seven goals for the Oilers, while only Sam Bennett of Florida, Mikko Rantanen of Dallas and Andrei Svechnikov of Carolina have more.
"We're experienced, we've learned a lot, and we're still continuing to do that," Perry told NHL.com, not forgiving the comparison to last year, when the Canadian team also finished in the finals with Florida.
"The mood in the locker room, it's completely different now, and so are the players," he added, noting how much they've improved themselves.
Now for some interesting numbers. Since the 2019/20 season, Perry has scored 25 playoff goals. For context, Auston Matthews has 16, Alexander Ovechkin has 12, and Evgeni Malkin has just four.
And Perry is not only beating players, but even entire clubs. Since 2000, he has played 230 playoff games. In that time, Pittsburgh have had 219 and Tampa Bay 218, and both teams have won the Stanley Cup three times in that period as well.
And that's exactly the goal Perry is aiming for. He'll appear in the Stanley Cup Finals for the sixth time this year, but he's only won once, with Anaheim in 2007. He has lost the finals as a player with Dallas, Montreal, Tampa Bay and Edmonton.
Stats of the round
Advancing to the Finals again didn't work out, but Carolina finally won at least one game in the Conference Finals. Before that, they had lost 15 in a row.
What's more, before they won the fourth game of the series 3-0 in Florida, their last goalscorer in this stage of the competition was Rod Brind'Amour in 2006. A man who has been the club's head coach for seven seasons now, and before that was also an assistant for another seven.
Social media highlight
When things weren't going well for Carolina's players, a Hurricanes fan tried to put a curse on Panthers goalie Bobrovsky. But it didn't work, the experienced Russian didn't seem affected, and the Canes continue their 19-year wait to reach the finals.
Pic of the round
The Dallas Stars were considered by many to be the biggest favourite before the Stanley Cup playoffs began, but they finished once again one round from the decider.
It was their third straight appearance in the conference finals, and that's only happened once before in NHL history.
Ladislav Smid's take
"I will start with the Florida-Carolina series, where there was nothing to talk about. When you lose the first two games, especially against a team like Florida, it's really hard to turn it around.
"Moreover, Frederik Andersen was excellent in the first two rounds, but against the Panthers, his performance was erratic, and that can cost you the whole series. But I don't want to put the blame on him. I also felt like the Hurricanes let themselves get outplayed. Florida play nasty hockey and know how to do it.
"The Canes were not very emphatic. There was also an incident where Matthew Tkachuk stepped up to Sebastian Aho, and no one stood up for him... Carolina are playing for speed and skill, but you can't do that against the Panthers. Florida are skilled, but they're sharp together. Not once in the series was there any doubt that Florida would advance."
"I'm not going to lie, I expected Edmonton's series with Dallas to be more even, but in the frame of mind the Oilers are in, it's going to be tough for any team.
"We'll see how it plays out against the old friends from Florida, but Edmonton's players are a year more experienced and know full well what these games entail. They don't just excel offensively anymore, they can finally shut it down defensively.
"Against Dallas, they worked shorthanded, the power play worked, and both Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Stuart Skinner shone.
"Dallas looked a little sluggish. They have a lot of players on their roster who should be difference-makers, but they weren't productive. Edmonton just wiped them out. Aggressive offence, controlling the game and good discipline. And whenever the Stars took a breath, McDavid and Draisaitl came in and that was it."