A healthy scratch to start the Western Conference semifinals, Kasperi Kapanen is the reason the Edmonton Oilers are heading to the West finals.
Kapanen, who was picked up on waivers in November, scored the overtime goal that saw the Oilers come away with a 1-0 win Wednesday against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5.
For the defending Stanley Cup runners-up, this will be their second straight trip and third in the past four years to the Western Conference finals. They'll face the winner of the Dallas Stars-Winnipeg Jets series, which resumes Thursday with the Stars holding a 3-1 lead.
"Just excitement, obviously, and this team's been playing really hard, and I've only played in a couple but just happy to be a part of this," Kapanen told ESPN after Game 5. "This meant everything to me. They took a chance to me and then they picked me up and ever since I've come to Edmonton, I've felt comfortable."
Kapanen became Edmonton's latest playoff star when Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse fired the puck on net. It created a scramble in front that saw Oilers superstar center Leon Draisaitl get his stick on the puck before Kapanen jammed it past Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill to win the game with 12:24 remaining in overtime.
While the goal was the one that clinched the series for the Oilers, it also amplified what was arguably the biggest difference in the series, in that the depth of the Oilers became the end of the Golden Knights.
Being a franchise built around a pair of generational centers in Draisaitl and captain Connor McDavid has its benefits. But depth had been among the challenges over the years, with Edmonton working to cultivate it in recent seasons. That paid off in 2023-24, as the Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Florida Panthers in seven games.
The Oilers returned several players from that team while adding more help in free agency and through waivers, as in the case of Kapanen, to field a team that isn't solely reliant on a handful of players.
Kapanen's game winner was just one example of that collective effort.
Another was that of goaltender Stuart Skinner. Like Kapanen, Skinner began the series on the bench, in favor of Calvin Pickard, who then sustained an injury in Game 2 against the Golden Knights. Skinner initially started the playoffs as the Oilers' No. 1 goaltender but was demoted after allowing 12 goals in their first two games against the Los Angeles Kings in the quarterfinal round.
Pickard's injury led to Skinner's return in Game 3 -- a contest the Golden Knights won on a last-second goal from Reilly Smith in regulation.
That ended up as the last goal the Golden Knights scored in the series, with Skinner recording consecutive shutouts in Games 4 and 5.
"I hope it shuts a lot of people up who were talking about him, first and foremost," McDavid told reporters after the game. "We've always had belief in him. He comes in, pitches two shutouts. You can't say enough good things."
Meanwhile, Vegas entered the regular season facing questions about how it would find offensive solutions after losing key players such as Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson, who were part of its Cup-winning team in 2023, to free agency.
The Golden Knights watched homegrown talent Pavel Dorofeyev emerge from scoring 20 career goals in 67 games to breaking through to lead them with 35 goals in 82 games. They also saw Brett Howden make the jump from scoring 23 goals in three seasons with the club to scoring a career-high 23 goals in 80 games.
However, against the Oilers, the Golden Knights failed to strike it rich with either their stars or their supporting cast. Howden, Ivan Barbashev and Tomas Hertl combined to score 78 regular-season goals but scored none in the second round.
Their six primary defensemen, who scored 35 regular-season goals, scored zero, while Jack Eichel, who led them with 94 points during the season, didn't score, either. And Dorofeyev missed the first two games because of an injury and also didn't score.
"We lost too many close games. I think that was the difference," Golden Knights forward William Karlsson said. "We don't score in the last two games, that's the difference."
Returning to the Western Conference finals for a consecutive season could see the Oilers draw the team they defeated last playoffs, the Stars. The Oilers took the series opener before falling into a 2-1 deficit but rallying to win three straight games.
A potential rematch against the Stars could once again be close as the Oilers appear to be ready for any situation. From the six straight comeback victories they had against the Kings and Golden Knights to how they closed out the series, the Oilers have paved the way for their first consecutive trip to the conference finals since reaching three straight between the 1989-90 and 1991-92 seasons.
The Oilers won the Stanley Cup in the 1989-90 campaign, which was the franchise's last championship.
"It's huge, it's the only way of winning this time of year," Draisaitl told ESPN when asked about the Oilers' depth. "Eight teams are good, so deep that you need everyone contributing. You need everybody playing their best, and our depth has been incredible. They've been winning us hockey games every night."