Craig MacTavish - Back a Winner

Edmonton Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish has been there before.

And when you're a four-time Stanley Cup champion, players tend to listen you.

This year the Oilers have, which is one of the big reasons they're heading to the Stanley Cup Final.

"It's easy to listen to people who have won championships, that's the luxury we have here, the staff has all won at a high level," said Oilers forward Ethan Moreau. "Everything they say, they've been through it. It's easy to follow guys like that. We've definitely bought into it."

All season, MacTavish and his coaching staff have been stressing the importance of blocking shots, winning faceoffs and killing penalties.

Eventually the message made its way through.

"A team always reflects the personality and maybe the style of play of their coach. That's just probably human nature of a player and coach relationship," Moreau said. "You can definitely see, not just with Mac, but with Charlie (Huddy) and Billy (Moores), they all have strengths and they all coach similar to the way they used to play."

It may have taken a while, and a lot of practice, but his team is exhibiting the traits MacTavish considered important to winning championships.