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Edmonton Oilers history

The 1990 Edmonton Oilers Win The Stanley Cup Without Wayne Gretzky

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The 1990 Edmonton Oilers were sailing in unchartered waters. The trade of Wayne Gretzky, only the franchise icon and the greatest hockey player in history, prior to the 1989 season had been bad enough. Now head coach Glen Sather was also gone. Edmonton had won four of the previous six Stanley Cups, but it seemed unlikely that a group coached by John Muckley and led Mark Messier could make it five.

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Messier stepped up with 45 goals and 74 assists and won the MVP award. Reliables like Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson helped sustain the ninth-best offense in the league. Edmonton turned to 23-year-old Bill Hanford to handle goaltending, a move away from Grant Fuhr, who had been in net during the championship years. The move paid off and Edmonton’s defense ranked sixth in the NHL.

Edmonton still finished second to the Calgary Flames, last year’s Stanley Cup champion, in the Smythe Division (more or less, the Pacific Division by geography). The Oilers were then pushed to the limit by the Winnipeg Jets. The underdog won a pair of overtime games and ending up forcing a seventh game before the Oilers survived.

It was time for Round Two, and that was a double entendre this year. Edmonton would play Los Angeles and squared off against Gretzky. The two teams had met in the 1989 NHL playoffs, and Gretzky led the Kings to a seven-game series win. This year, the second round of the playoffs offered an Oilers-Gretzky Rematch.

Los Angeles hadn’t been a very good team in the regular season, but were good enough to upset Calgary in the first round of the playoffs. The Kings started coming back to earth almost immediately when the rematch started.

The Edmonton defense was stifling and Gretzky didn’t so much as take a shot on net in the first game. Six different Oiler players scored and the result was a 7-0 rout. Game 2 wasn’t quite as mismatched, but it was still a 6-1 Oiler win. The games in Los Angeles were close, but with a pair of one-goal wins, the last one in overtime, Edmonton swept their former teammate out of the playoffs.

In the Campbell Conference Finals (the West), the Edmonton lost two of the first three to the Chicago Blackhawks, who had won the Norris Division (a Midwest/Central group). But Chicago was a mediocre defensive team, and Messier scored two goals to key a Game 4 win. The Oilers then lit the lamp twelve times over the course of Games 5 & 6, won both and closed out another trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Boston Bruins had the best record in the NHL, and they also had revenge on their minds, having lost the 1988 Stanley Cup Finals to Edmonton. Game 1 went triple overtime and Boston consistently got more shots on net than did Edmonton, as the final shot numbers of 52-31 in favor of the Bruins bear out. But Ranford turned in the kind of game every champion needs from its goalie somewhere along the line. He carried them, and the Oilers won the marathon game 3-2.

Edmonton followed it up with a blowout 7-2 win in Game 2, The Bruins answered in Game 3 with a 2-1 win, but it was apparent that Ranford had the number of the Boston offense. Over the next two games, the Oiler goalie stopped 53 of 55 shots, Edmonton won both games decisively and won the Stanley Cup.

Ranford was a deserving winner of the Conn Smythe Award, as MVP of the entire postseason, cutting his goals-allowed average by over half a goal per game against the best competition the league could offer—a postseason run that included having to face Gretzky, and then two consecutive division winners. The 1990 Edmonton Oilers had their first—and what has thus far proven to be the only—Stanley Cup of the post-Wayne Gretzky era.

The 1988 Edmonton Oilers Find Another Gear At Playoff Time

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The 1988 Edmonton Oilers didn’t dominate the regular season in the manner they had been accustomed to since 1983, a year that marked their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals with Wayne Gretzky and was followed up by their first championship a year later. But what the 1988 edition of the Edmonton Oilers did have was an ability to step it up in the playoffs and they added another Cup to their Gretzky-era legacy.

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Edmonton finished behind the Calgary Flames in the old Smythe Division, consisting of teams on the Pacific coast. Gretzky finally had a year where he didn’t win the MVP award, ending his 8-for-8 streak going back to the rookie year of 1980. Gretzky’s 40 goals were low by his lofty standards, though he still dished out 109 assists. It was an emerging star, Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins that grabbed the honor.

But Gretzky was still supported by the same cast that had helped him win three of the previous four Stanley Cups. Jari Kurri lit the lamp with 43 goals. Mark Messier scored 37 and was the team’s second-best passer behind Gretzky. Glenn Anderson and Craig Simpson were productive threats at the forward positions. It added up to an offense that was still second-best in the NHL, and goalie Grant Fuhr anchored a defense that ranked eighth.

No one would be under any illusions that Edmonton’s slippage to second place in their division meant they would be an easy out in the playoffs. But no one could have been prepared for just how thoroughly Gretzky and his mates would turn on the engine.
The first-round opponent was Winnipeg. They had two excellent offensive threats in Dale Hawerchuck and Paul MacLean, along a reliable third scorer in Andrew McBain. The defenseman, Randy Carlyle and Dave Elliot were good passers. But the defense was lacking and the Jets were a sub-.500 team.

Edmonton opened up with seven goals in the opener, keyed by Anderson’s hat trick. Anderson came back with two assists the following night in a defense-oriented 3-2 win. After a 6-4 road loss in Game 3, the Oilers cranked up the engine gain. Gretzky passed for seven assists combined in Games 4 & 5. Kurri scored four goals over the two games. Edmonton wrapped up the series with wins over 5-3 and 6-2.

Calgary was a stiff test in the Division Finals. The Flames had won the division. They had also ousted Edmonton in the 1986 postseason and were just a year away from winning the 1989 Stanley Cup. They had the league’s most prolific offense, led by 50-goal scorer Hakan Loop. Joe Nieuwendyk also lit the lamp 50-plus times. Mike Bullard and Joe Muller were 40-goal scorers. The goalie was 24-year-old Mike Vernon.

Fuhr stepped up against this potent attack, saving 26 of 27 shots in the opener. Even though Edmonton only got 19 shots of their own on goal, it was enough to grind out a 3-1 win. Game 2 was more wide-open, with Fuhr and Vernon each coming up with 30 saves. Gretzky scored twice, Kurri passed for three assists and the Oilers won 5-4 in overtime.

Edmonton was heading back to home ice with a chance to put their foot on Calgary’s throat and the Oilers did not let up. Messier and Gretzky put on a passing display in a 4-2 win in Game 3. The Flames pulled Vernon from goal, even though their problems were more about getting the offense untracked. The panic move predictably backfired as the Oilers got their own attack untracked in a 6-4 win that clinched the series.

The Detroit Red Wings weren’t as explosive as Calgary, but the Red Wings still had the third-best offense in the league and their defense was stronger than the Flames. Goalie Glen Hanlon anchored a good team and future franchise legend Steve Yzerman scored 50 goals and passed for 52 assists at the tender age of 22.

Edmonton’s postseason defensive control continued in Game 1 of the conference finals as they limited Detroit to 15 shots on goal. Gretzky’s three assists delivered a 4-1 win. In Game 2, it was Gretzky, Kurri and Messier leading a balanced attack that eventually chased Hanlon in a 5-3 win.

The series went to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, but the Edmonton defense did not make the trip, at least for Game 3. They lost 5-2. But Kurri’s two goals keyed a 4-3 win that put the Oilers in firm control. They went back home for Game 5 and unloaded. Relative no-names like Mike Krushelnyski and Craig Simpson each scored twice and the 8-4 final sent Edmonton to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Boston was the fourth-best team in the NHL over the course of the year and had a future Hall of Fame defenseman in Ray Borque, who passed for 64 assists. Cam Neely was a second-team All-Star, Geoff Courtney scored 32 goals and the Bruins’ defense was third-best in the NHL.

Edmonton’s defense was even better. In the first two games, the Oilers allowed just 26 shots combined. They ground out wins of 2-1 and 4-2. Game 3 was a little more open, but Fuhr saved 25 shots. And in open ice, no one was slowing down Gretzky who passed for four assists in a 6-3 win.

On the brink of a Stanley Cup, a bizarre circumstance went down in Game 4 in Boston Garden. The power went out and the game could not be completed. The series picked up with Game 5 was usual back in Edmonton where a balanced attack delivered a 6-3 win. The Oilers had completed the odd feat of wrapping up a four-game sweep in a fifth game.

Gretzky won the Conn Smythe Award, scoring 12 goals and handing out 31 assists over eighteen games, of which his team only lost twice. The 1988 Edmonton Oilers weren’t the best edition of their dynastic run if we go start to finish. But they were the most dominant in the postseason.

The 1987 Edmonton Oilers Make Amends And Get Back On Top

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An upset bid had derailed Wayne Gretzky’s bid for a third straight Stanley Cup in 1986. Gretzky and the 1987 Edmonton Oilers came out ready to make amends. They did it, but not without a great fight put up by the Philadelphia Flyers in the Finals.

Gretzky won his eighth MVP award in as many seasons, scoring 62 goals and dishing out an astounding 121 assists. He was surrounded by 54-goal scorer Jari Kurri and Mark Messier in an always-potent attack. Edmonton posted the best record in the old Campbell Conference (the West) and the best record in the NHL overall.

Then the Oilers steamrollered their way into the Finals, beating the Los Angeles Kings, Winnipeg Jets and Detroit Red Wings with a combined record of 12-2.

Philadelphia was the best team in the Wales Conference (the East). Ron Hextall was the NHL’s best goalie, and the offense, led by 58-goal scorer Tim Kerry, was the fourth-best in the game. The Flyers got a stiff challenge from the New York Islanders in the second round, nearly letting a 3-1 series lead slip away. But they won the finale 5-1 and eventually moved onto the Finals without further incident, ousting the defending champion Montreal Canadiens in six games.

The 1987 Stanley Cup Finals were a battle worthy of the stakes, going all seven games. Edmonton took the first two games, including a Game 2 overtime win and when they picked up Game 4 in Philly for a 3-1 series lead it looked all but over.

But the Flyers rallied on the road for a 4-3 win in Game 5 and then ground out a 3-2 win in the sixth game.

Edmonton finally prevailed 3-1 in Game 7, though Hextall was so impressive in defeat that he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, as postseason MVP. The 1987 Edmonton Oilers took home their third Stanley Cup in four years.

The 1984 Edmonton Oilers: Wayne Gretzky Hoists His First Stanley Cup

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They were a franchise that had only been in existence for five years, yet they were one that had been steadily knocking on the door and it was time to break through. The 1984 Edmonton Oilers did just that and won their first Stanley Cup in the Wayne Gretzky era, taking down a reigning dynasty in the process.

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Gretzky had arrived in the NHL the same year as the Oilers, breaking in for the 1980 season. All he had done was win four MVPs in four seasons. In 1984 Gretzky made it 5-for-5. His 87 goals led the league, as did the 118 assists, leaving no doubt about who the best player in the game was.

Edmonton was hardly a one-man show though. Jari Kurri scored 52 goal, the fifth-best in the NHL. Glenn Anderson was even better, with 54 goals, tied for third in the league. Mark Messier scored 37 goals and had 64 assists. On most teams that would have made him the star. On Edmonton, it made him a role player. Defenseman Paul Coffey added 40 more goals and his 86 assists were second only to Gretzky.

Given those individual numbers, it will come as no surprise to learn that Edmonton led the NHL in scoring. The defense was a little spotty, ranking 10th in a 21-team league. Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog split goaltending duties.

The Oilers had reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1983 before being swept by the New York Islanders, who won their fourth straight championship. Edmonton was hungry to get back and it showed right out of the gate. They won their first seven games, had another eight-game winning streak in November and were 28-7-4 at the New Year.

There was a hiccup in late January and early February when Edmonton lost six of seven, the bulk of it coming on an East Coast trip and one of the losses coming to the Islanders. With every other serious Cup contender being in the Wales Conference, as the East was then called, the losing streak raised issues about whether the Oilers would be sufficiently toughened up to win the Finals.

An 0-3 regular season record against the Islanders was further cause for concern, but at the end of the day, Edmonton finished the regular season 57-18-5 and their 119 points were the best in the NHL. Now they had to finish the job in the postseason.

The format of the Stanley Cup playoffs then was to take the top four teams in each division and simply seed them 1 thru 4, then pairing up the conference finals and the Finals themselves. Edmonton played in the Smythe Division (basically the Pacific) and drew Winnipeg in the first round.

The Jets were a pretty good offensive team, with 30-goal scorers in Dale Hawerchuck and Lucien DeBlois. But they were poor defensively and there was just no way Winnipeg—or anyone else—could win a scoring race against these Oilers. Edmonton blasted their way to a 9-2 win and closed out what was then a best-of-five series with a 5-4 overtime win and a 4-1 victory in Game 3.

Edmonton’s next opponent was Calgary, a middling team who had gone 34-32-14 and finished in the middle of the league both offensively and defensively. The Flames had good offensive balance, with Kent Nilsson, Eddy Beers, Lanny McDonald and talented rookie Haken Loob all 30-plus goal scorers. And with that balance, Calgary would give Edmonton everything it wanted.

The Oilers grabbed a 5-2 win to start the series, but dropped Game 2 in overtime, 6-5. When Edmonton went on the road and won tough games by 3-2 and 5-3 counts, the series appeared all but over. But the Flames stole a 5-4 win in Edmonton, and then got another one by the same score in overtime.

Gretzky’s push for a title was now down to one game, and he and his mates came through. The offense got cooking and Edmonton won 7-4 to reach the finals of the Campbell Conference, as the West was known.

The Oilers faced the Minnesota North Stars (forerunner of the current Dallas franchise). The North Stars had been the best in the Norris Division, which was basically the Central. They had the fifth-best offense and sixth-best defense.

But the offense was top-heavy reliant on Brian Bellows, meaning Minnesota could not answer Gretzky’s greatness with balance, the way Calgary had. What’s more, the North Stars were inferior to at least six teams in the East.

The mismatch was evident in Game 1, a 7-1 Oiler blowout. They won a close 4-3 game, and then alternated blowout and close win on the road. Edmonton took the third game 8-5 and completed the sweep with a 3-1 win.

Edmonton was not only back in the Stanley Cup Finals, but they would get a crack at their nemesis, the New York Islanders. The four-time defending champs had great offensive talent in Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier, along with defenseman Denis Potvin, who joined Coffey as the 1st-team All-Stars at the position.

The Islanders had an explosive offense, ranking third in the NHL and giving them at least a chance of winning a scoring battle with the Oilers. More important, New York had top defense and goaltending with Billy Smith, and were the fourth-best defense in the league. They were battle-tested, both from their previous Cups and from coming through the tougher conference.

This battle was anything but preordained from the outset, but Edmonton made it look that way. They won the kind of game that had eluded them in the previous year’s Finals, a defensive battle. Fuhr spun a shutout in a 1-0 win. New York was still able to bounce back and take a 6-1 win in Game 2, and had kept Gretzky scoreless thus far in the Finals.

Just when drama seemed promised, Edmonton sucked the life out of the dynasty. The NHL was using a 2-3-2 format for the Finals (something they would only do in 1984-85) and the Oilers stunned the crowd at Nassau Coliseum with consecutive 7-2 wins to put them on the brink of a title.

The key moment came when Game 3 was still a tight 2-1 game in the second period, when Messier scored and the floodgates unleashed. Gretzky finally got off the schneid in Game 4, with goals that both began and ended the scoring. Edmonton finished the job with a 5-2 win in Game 5, Gretzky tacking on two more goals.

Messier was named winner of the Conn Smythe Award, as MVP of the postseason. Messier finished with eight goals and 18 assists, a nice showing to be sure. But was it really more MVP-worthy than Gretzky’s 13 goals and 22 assists? Or Kurri’s 14/14? Or Fuhr lifting his game and posting a 2.99 goals-against average, after being at 3.91 in the regular season?

I’m sure it’s safe to say no one associated with the organization or its fan base was all that concerned.  The 1984 Edmonton Oilers were not only champs, there was every reason to think this was just the beginning. None of the key players were older than 23-years-old. And this franchise would fulfill that promise, with this Cup being the first of five in a seven-year period.

The 1985 Edmonton Oilers Go Back-To-Back

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Once Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers figured out how to finish the job and win a Stanley Cup in 1984, the building of a dynasty was a natural second step. The 1985 Edmonton Oilers rolled to the top record in the Campbell Conference (the West) and Gretzky won his seventh MVP award in his seventh season in the league. His 73 goals and 135 assists keyed the best offense in the NHL.

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Gretzky wasn’t without some talented assistance. Jari Kurri, a future Hall of Famer in his own right, scored 71 goals, second-best in the league behind Gretzky. Paul Coffey was a top defenseman and dished out 84 assists from the back line, again second only to Gretzky. Mark Messier was a contributor at center, and Glen Anderson was the same on the wing.

The defense wasn’t great, ranking eighth in a 21-team NHL, but with 22-year-old Grant Fuhr in net, it was good enough to win games backed by an attack like this.

Edmonton came roaring out of the gate and started the season 12-0-03. They were 25-7-4 by New Year’s, with the only fly in the ointment coming from the Philadelphia Flyers. The Oilers lost twice to the Flyers, who were en route to the best record in the NHL, and gave up 12 goals in the two games.

But an eight-game winning streak in January set Edmonton comfortably ahead its brethren in the Smythe Division (the Pacific) and the conference. They were 43-13-7 at the end of February before closing the season on a spotty note, going 6-7-4. The Oilers were still better than every team except the Flyers, whom they were now on a collision course with.

The playoffs opened against the Los Angeles Kings. A team that relied mostly on outscoring people, the Kings had one of the great centers of the era in Marcel Dionne. He was one of three 40-plus goal scorers, along with Bernie Nicholls and Dave Taylor. They had gone 34-32-14 during the season, held back by poor defense.

Edmonton had surprising trouble generating offense in this series, which could have spelled trouble. Fortunately, they got good play from Fuhr and kept winning close games. A 3-2 overtime win opened the postseason and it was followed by a 4-2 victory. Edmonton went to Los Angeles and closed out what was then a best-of-five round with an overtime win, this one 4-3.

Winnipeg, with a record of 43-27-10 was next in the Division Finals—the NHL simply took the top four teams from each division and seeded them 1 thru 4—and the Jets were a team similar in profile to the Kings. They had a great offense, third-best in the NHL, and a talented center. Dale Hawerchuk scored 53 goals and 77 assists, and was 2nd-team all NHL. Paul MacLean, a future Coach of the Year in Ottawa, scored 41 goals for Winnipeg in 1985.

The problem with being all about offense and relying on your center is when you go against another team that has even better offense and a better center. Gretzky led the way to another series sweep. Edmonton took the opening two games at home, 4-2 and 5-2. A 5-4 road win all but sealed the series and the offense finally really unloaded in Game 4, an 8-3 rout.

Edmonton faced Chicago in the conference finals. The Blackhawks had gone 38-35-7, were middle of the league both offensively and defensively and the product of a weak Norris (the Midwest) Division. Their best player was Steve Larmer, who scored 46 goals. And their only lasting legacy was 18-year-old Ed Olczyk, who is now the sport’s top TV analyst for NBC Sports Network.

The series appeared to be a complete mismatch and when Edmonton blasted Chicago 11-2 and 7-3 in the first two games, no one had reason to think otherwise. Then the Blackhawks turned the tables and took the middle games back at old Chicago Stadium, winning 5-2 and 8-6. Were Edmonton’s defensive deficiencies catching up with them?

Not when you can score ten goals in a game, as the Oilers did in a Game 5, winning 10-5. They then played a complete game in closing out the series in Game 6, 8-2.

Now it was time for the Finals showdown with Philadelphia. The Flyers had a good offense. Tim Kerr scored 54 goals, Brian Propp scored 43 and they were fourth-best in the NHL. Still not in Edmonton’s class, but this time the Oilers had an opponent that could play defense. Philly was third in the league in goal prevention, with Pelle Lindberg a superior netminder to Fuhr.

If you thought this was the series that Edmonton would finally come up short, there were plenty of facts to back you up. Particularly when Philadelphia controlled its home ice in Game 1 and won 4-1.

Then Edmonton showed it could win a low-scoring game, with a 3-1 win in Game 2. They took control of the series at home, winning 4-3 and 5-3. Gretzky couldn’t be stopped by anyone. For the postseason, he finished with 17 goals and 30 assists. And one more time, his team unloaded in a clinching situation, blasting the Flyers 8-3 to win Game 5 and a second straight Stanley Cup.

Gretzky was an easy choice for the Conn Smythe Award. And with back-to-back Stanley Cups, his team was now more than a champion—they were on their way to becoming a dynasty.