Dallas now knows it will face Edmonton in the Western Conference this Thursday as they get some much-needed R&R.

The Dallas Stars finished off the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 knowing they would have several days to rejuvenate their bodies and minds. What they didn't know is who their opponent would be in the Western Conference finals.

After the Edmonton Oilers eliminated the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in Game 7 on Monday, that question has been laid to rest. The Stars will host Edmonton in the first two games of the series, which starts Thursday at 7:30 Pm CT at American Airlines Center.

The Stars had a couple of days to return home and recuperate from Friday's 2-1 double-overtime win over Colorado before taking part in its first full-fledged team practice in three weeks on Monday. They held a couple of ice sessions with different players skating in each one.

After playing 13 games in 25 days over two intense playoff rounds, the R&R was long overdue.

"It's huge," Stars defenseman Thomas Harley said following Monday's practice. "We all have bumps and bruises."

Since the Oilers will have just three days between the end of Game 7 and the start of the WCF, the usual rest vs. rust question comes into play. Dallas had nearly a week between its last regular-season game and the start of its First Round Series against the Vegas Golden Knights, then had less than 48 hours to segue from Game 7 to the second round against Colorado. Dallas lost the first two games of the Vegas series and Game 1 against the Avs before rallying to win both series.

For his part, Stars head coach Pete DeBoer is more concerned with getting his players rested and relatively healthy than he is about being rusty.

"I'm not worried about rust," DeBoer said. "Honestly, with the two series we just went through, I think we could use the time. It's probably a perfect amount of time that we can recharge and get some guys healthy and get reset for the next round."

The two biggest question marks regarding injuries coming into the Edmonton Series are forward Roope Hintz and defenseman Jani Hakanpaa. Hintz suffered an upper-body injury in the first period of Game 4 against the Avalanche after blocking a shot from Avs defenseman Sean Walker and then being cross-checked by forward Nathan MacKinnon. The specifics of Hintz's injury and how he suffered it have not been disclosed.

Hakanpaa has not seen action this post-season, and has been out since a March 16 game against the Los Angeles Kings after suffering a lower-body injury.

DeBoer ruled both players day-to-day following Monday's practice. Hintz did not participate in the mandatory practice but did do some skating beforehand. Hakanpaa didn't skate at all Monday but was a spectator. He has been skating on his own and even made the trip to Denver for Game 6, but has yet to take part in a team skate.

For the rest of the squad, the physical and mental reset has been welcome, although it's hard to completely separate from hockey during a serious playoff run no matter how long the time between series. Some players, like Matt Duchene and Joe Pavelski, have kids in youth hockey. Most of the team watched or kept track of Monday's Oilers-Canucks Game 7.

"I almost lost my voice from yelling (Sunday); they were in fighting form," Duchene said of his three children. "There's no getting away for me. It's hockey mad or dad mad at this point. There's no nice rounds of golf, (although) my wife and I did go to dinner for the first time in probably six weeks. That was nice."

At the Pavelski house, where teammates Wyatt Johnston and Logan Stankoven have been staying, there were floor hockey games upstairs along with youth games for the Pavelski kids.

"There's a certain level of engagement at this time of year," Pavelski said. "I've kind of learned you have to stay engaged, you have to work. Nothing gets easier from here on out."

Even for young guys like Johnston, the time off is beneficial.

"It will be nice to get a little bit of rest," Johnston said following the team's return home Saturday. "It was a lot of hockey... lasting 13 playoff games playing pretty much every other day. I feel like I've got a lot of energy, but at times you need some rest."

Dallas has beaten the previous two Stanley Cup champions in the first two rounds of the post-season. But it doesn't get any easier against the Oilers, who boast the NHL's third-best points leader during the regular season in Connor McDavid (132). McDavid has 21 points so far in the playoffs, trailing teammate Leon Draisaitl, who has 24. The two teams haven't met in a playoff series since 2003, although they faced off six times previously from 1997-2003.

As beneficial as it would be to end the series in less than seven games, DeBoer knows how much of a challenge that is this deep in the post-season, particularly against a team as deep as Edmonton.

"It's really difficult," he said. "If you are going to have to go seven games, I think you want to have to do it earlier as you go down the playoff trail on the road. If you look at the Stanley Cup winners over the years, there is a common denominator there. A lot of them have finished series off before the seven-game mark at different points. I think that's important."