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The Stanley Cup Season Of The 1989 Calgary Flames

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The 1989 Calgary Flames entered the season looking like they would be the forgotten team of the 1980s in the NHL. They had sprung an upset on Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers in 1986 and reached the Finals, but Montreal won the Stanley Cup. The Flames consistently contended, but this was a decade that otherwise belonged to the New York Islanders early on (Stanley Cups from 1980-83) and Gretzky’s Oilers after that.

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The 1989 season really didn’t change that narrative from a public perspective, but it did at the practical level—Calgary won a Stanley Cup.

Bob Johnson, the coach of the ‘86 team and a great college coach prior to that, stepped down before 1988. Terry Crisp took over and Calgary promptly won the old Smythe Division (basically the Pacific Division), which included finishing ahead of Gretzky and Edmonton. But it was the Oilers who won the important matchup in the playoffs.

There were big changes in the Smythe Division prior to the 1989 season. Gretzky was traded from Edmonton to Los Angeles. No one knew exactly what this would do to the balance of the power, but this was much certain—the Kings had to be taken seriously and the Oilers, the defending Cup winners, had plenty of talent on hand to keep winning.

Calgary had plenty of weapons themselves though. Four players would eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame and all of them had good years for the Flames in 1989. Joe Mullen was a first-team All-Star and his 51 goals were tied for fifth in the NHL. Joe Nieuwendyk, a 22-year-old center, also lit the lamp 51 times. Defenseman Al MacInnis was a second-team All-Star and a terrific passer, with 58 assist. Doug Gilmour was another one who could move the puck, passing for 59 assists and scoring 26 goals.

Hakan Loob wasn’t destined for the Hall, but the forward was another steady offensive contributor with 27 goals. Jiri Hrdinia, Joel Otto and Gary Roberts all scored 20-plus goals. This deep offensive attack ranked second in the NHL in goals scored. And with goalie Mike Vernon finishing second in the Vezina Trophy voting, the defense was also second in the league.

Calgary faced Los Angeles in the second game of the year and dropped a 6-5 overtime decision, but they won three of four games against Edmonton and a strong Eastern road trip with five wins in six tries had the Flames’ record at 24-8-6 by the New Year.

On January 5 and 7, the Calgary offense unloaded. They hosted the Kings and Oilers and scored a combined 15 goals to win both games. The Flames won at Montreal, the best team in the East on January 23 and they won eight straight games in the early part of February.

When the regular season was over, Calgary was 54-17-9. Their 117 points were easily the best in the old Campbell Conference (the West) and they edged Montreal by two points for the best record in the NHL overall.

The playoff format of the time was division-based and more rigid than it is today. The top four teams in each division qualified and were seeded 1 thru 4, with no wild-card crossover possibilities. Calgary started the playoffs against Vancouver. The Canucks finished 33-39-8. They had a couple 30-goal scorers in Petri Skriko and rookie Trevor Linden, but the lack of depth still made this the most productive offense in the league. What Vancouver could do was defend, as goalie Kirk MacLean led the NHL’s third-best defense. And these Canucks nearly derailed the Flames’ postseason hopes before they could even begin.

Calgary launched 46 shots at McLean in Game 1, but the goalie was too good and the Flames lost 4-3 in overtime. A balanced offense revived them in Game 2—five different players scored, with MacInnis having two assists in a 5-2 win. When Loob’s two goals keyed a 4-0 shutout in Game 3, Calgary looked back in control.

Vernon then crumbled in Game 4, allowing three goals and being yanked for backup Rick Wamsley, who fared little better in a 5-3 loss. Vernon bounced back in Game 5 with help from a stingy defense in front of him—the Canucks only took 18 shots, Vernon stopped them all and the Flames had another 4-0 win. But the goalie was awful in Game 6, facing only 24 shots, but allowing six goals in a 6-3 loss. This would come down to a seventh game in Calgary’s Saddledome.

The game would be riveting from the start. The pace was fast and furious and the two teams combined for 91 shots on goal. Vernon and McLean both played well and the game went to overtime at 3-3. Otto finally got the game-winner. Loob finished with three assists while MacInnis added two more. Calgary survived.

The other Smythe Division semi-final had been a juicy matchup between Gretzky’s Kings against his old teammates in Edmonton. It also went seven games and almost predictably, The Great One delivered in Game 7. Gretzky again stood in Calgary’s way, even if the uniform had changed.

Hockey’s greatest player ever had enjoyed a vintage year, with 54 goals, 114 assists and an MVP award. He also had plenty of help. Bernie Nicholls’ 70 goals were second in the league to only a rising star named Mario !!br0ken!! Luc Robatille, a future Hall of Famer himself, was 22-years-old, had scored 46 goals and was a first-team All-Star. This was the most potent offense in the NHL.

What Los Angeles did not have was a good defense, ranking 16th in a 21-team league. Calgary’s balance would be too much to overcome. The Flames survived an overtime Game 1 decision, winning 4-3 and then simply took over.

Gilmour stepped up with two goals in Game 2, Mullen added a goal and two assists and the team as a whole assaulted the net with 52 shots. The final score was 8-3. Gilmour scored two more goals when the series went to Los Angeles in Game 3 and the Flames won 5-2. It was Mullen who led the scoring in Game 4, with a pair of goals. Rob Ramage passed for four assists and the 5-3 win turned this Smythe Showdown into an anticlimactic sweep.

The Norris Division (the Midwest) was already hockey’s weakest division. The fourth-place Chicago Blackhawks then won the divisional playoffs and made it even weaker. For a conference finals showdown, Calgary faced an opponent that finished the regular season with a record of 27-41-12.

Chicago had a talented scorer in Steve Larmer, who went for 43 goals. Dirk Graham scored 33 more and had 45 assists. The Blackhawks also had a 23-year-old goalie in Ed Belfour who would prove to be a tough-minded winner in the course of his career. Had Chicago—or anyone else—known that about Belfour in 1989, this series might have been different. But right now Belfour was a third-stringer, never saw the ice in the playoffs and the Blackhawks were overmatched.

Vernon stopped all 19 shots he saw in a 3-0 shutout to start the series. The goalie had a hiccup in Game 2, allowing in four goals with only 22 shots against him and Chicago evened up the series with a 4-2 win.

MacInnis and Gilmour went to the Windy City and each produced two assists while Mullen scored twice in a 5-2 win. Each of the next two games were tough—a 2-1 overtime win in Game 4 and a 3-1 close-out victory back at the Saddledome in Game 5. The common theme was that Calgary simply controlled the flow of play, outshooting Chicago 75-46 in the two games combined.

The Flames were going back to the Finals and a familiar foe awaited—Montreal was again the last roadblock and these were the best two teams in hockey ready to settle the Stanley Cup.

Not only were these the two best teams, but the two best goalies, at least according to the 1989 Vezina Trophy results were in the net. Montreal had the great Patrick Roy to counter Vernon and Roy won the ‘89 Vezina, part of his Hall of Fame resume. The Canadiens had the top-ranked scoring defense in the NHL.

Offensively, they weren’t bad either. There was no dominant superstar, but Montreal was very deep. Mats Naslund and Bobby Smith were each 30-goal scorers. Guy Carbonneau, Stephen Roche, a 23-year-old Claude Lemieux, Shayne Corson and Russ Courtnall all broke the 20-goal threshold. And defenseman Chris Chelios was a 1st-team All-Star with 58 assists. The Canadiens scored the fifth-most goals in the league.

MacInnis had been a consistent passer all season and into the playoffs for Calgary. In Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the defenseman showed he could also finish, scoring two goals. Otto had two assists to key a 3-2 win. But Roy outplayed Vernon in Game 2. Calgary got 32 shots ,but only scored twice. Vernon faced just 23 shots, but still lost 4-2.

Roy continued his mastery in Game 3 back in Montreal, turning back 34 of 37 Calgary shots. The Flames lost 4-3 and were starting to sink again.

Mullen had been a bright spot in Game 3 with two goals and he lit the lamp twice more in Game 4. The defense limited Montreal to 19 shots and a 4-2 win evened up the series. Calgary went home and in an evenly fought fifth game pulled out a 3-2 win. They could taste the Cup.

There was still the question of beating Roy in his house, but Calgary found a way. With only 18 shots in Game 6, the Flames scored four times. Two of the goals came from Gilmour with MacInnis adding two assists. For the first and only time in franchise history, Calgary was hoisting a Stanley Cup.

MacInnis was the hero of the playoff run, finishing with 24 postseason assists and he was a deserved winner of the Conn Smythe Award. Mullen was the top playoff scorer with 16 goals. Gilmour and Nieuwendyk scored 11 and 10 goals respectively. And while we’ve pointed out some of Vernon’s rougher games in the playoffs, he still had a 90.5% save percentage in the playoffs—better than his outstanding regular season performance.

The years since have not been kind to the fans of Calgary. While the Flames reached the Finals again in 2004 before losing a seven-game series to Tampa Bay, that’s one of only two years they’ve advanced in the postseason and the only time past the second round. There have been long playoff droughts (1997-2003, 2010-14) in a league where qualifying for the postseason is the bare minimum of acceptability.

But in the 1980s, this was a good team with some great players. And in 1989 they got their just reward.

Mario Lemieux Wins His First Stanley Cup With The 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins

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The 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins were a team that came mostly out of nowhere. Even though Mario Lemieux was a rising star who won the MVP award in 1988 and finished in the top five each of the following two years, Lemieux only played 26 regular season games. The Penguins had missed the playoffs seven of the previous eight years. But it all came together at the right time in 1991.

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Mark Recchi and Kevin Stevens were each 40-goal scorers, while center John Cullen and defenseman Paul Coffey were skilled at moving the puck. Another contributor who would eventually be a star was 18-year-old Jaromir Jagr, and everything added up to Pittsburgh having the second-best offense in the NHL.

Defense was problematic and Pittsburgh did not have a dominant regular season, but the 41-33-6 record was still good enough to win a balanced Patrick Division, have the third-best record in the Wales Conference (the East), and seventh best in the league overall.

The playoff run nearly ended before it began when the Penguins fell behind the New Jersey Devils three games to two, before a two-goal game from Stevens saved Game 6 and Pittsburgh then won a 4-0 shutout in the decisive game.

Pittsburgh lost the opener of the second round to the Washington Capitals and went to overtime in Game 2. It was defenseman Paul Coffey who ended up as the hero for the Pens, dishing four assists in a 7-6 win that turned the series around. Pittsburgh won the next three games and moved on to the conference finals.

The Boston Bruins had the best record in the NHL for the second straight season, and were looking to finally turn those President’s Trophies into Stanley Cups. The Bruins won the first two games of the conference finals and seemed in command. Then, when it was least expected, the suspect Pittsburgh defense came up big.

Tom Barrasso was in goal, and during the regular season he finished with a 3.59 Goals Against Average. The playoffs were a different story, as the 25-year-old came up clutch and ended with 2.60 GAA. Never was that more apparent or more important than Games 3 & 4 of the conference finals. Barrasso saved 56 of 58 shots in those two games, the Penguins won both and the tide had turned. The offense unloaded for 12 goals in Games 5 & 6 and Pittsburgh won the series in six games.

The breaks of the NHL playoffs worked in Pittsburgh’s favor at the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals. In spite of the Campbell Conference (the West) being stacked with better regular season teams than the East, it was that side of the bracket that turned chaotic. The Minnesota North Stars were the West’s seventh-best team and worse than every playoff team in the Wales Conference, but somehow played their way into the Finals.

 

Minnesota might have been outclassed, but Pittsburgh continued their pattern of making sure they did it the hard way. The Pens lost two of the first three games, but got wins of 5-3 and 6-4 to get control and then went up to the Twin Cities and hung an 8-0 rout on the North Stars, bringing the Stanley Cup to the Steel City.

Lemieux might not have been the regular season hero, but he knew the postseason, scoring 16 goals and distributing 28 assists, en route to the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. The 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins brought their home city its first Stanley Cup.

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.

1989 NHL Playoffs: Gretzky Changes Side & The Calgary Flames Burn Bright

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Wayne Gretzky had only won the NHL’s MVP award eight times since coming into the league in 1980. His team, the Edmonton Oilers, had won four of the last five Stanley Cups, and showed no signs of slowing down. So when Gretzky changed sides, and was traded to the Los Angeles Kings—within the division no less—it’s fair to say this was pretty big news. Edmonton’s ownership needed money and getting rid of the greatest player of all time was their way to go about getting it.

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Gretzky won another MVP award—make it ten in a row—and as luck would have it, Los Angeles and Edmonton met in the first round of the 1989 NHL playoffs. And as luck would have it, the series went the full seven games.

Edmonton took three of the first four and appeared ready to give their former favorite a come-uppance. But in the final three games of the series, Gretzky scored three goals and passed for four assists. Two of the goals came in Game 7, and Los Angeles rallied to advance.

The Kings lost in the second round, and it isn’t often a series that doesn’t see either team advancing deep is the most historically noteworthy. But Wayne Gretzky changing sides was anything but normal.

In the midst of the Gretzky saga, there was still championship-level hockey being played elsewhere in Canada—indeed at both coasts. The Calgary Flames accrued 117 points in the regular season and was the best team in the Campbell Conference (West), while the Montreal Canadiens’ 115 points was tops in the Wales Conference (East).

The two powers were in collision course to meet in the Stanley Cup Finals, but Calgary was nearly derailed early. The Vancouver Canucks pushed them to a first-round Game 7, and then to overtime, before the Flames survived. They went on to end the Gretzky run by sweeping Los Angeles and then dispatching the Chicago Blackhawks in five games.

Montreal was never challenged in the playoffs, rolling through Hartford, Boston and Philadelphia with a record of 12-3. The Canadiens were built around their defense, keyed by Vezina Award winner Patrick Roy in goal. They got just enough offense to win, through the work of Mats Naslund and Bobby Smith.

Calgary had more balanced, ranking second in the NHL in both offense and defense. Joe Mullen was the best all-around offensive player, while Joe Nieuwendyk knew how to light the lamp and defenseman Al MacInnis was an excellent passer. The Flames’ goalie was Mike Vernon, who was embarking on a fine career at age 25, and this wouldn’t be his last trip to the Finals—Vernon would be a key part of future Detroit Red Wings’ championship teams.

MacInnis scored two goals in Game 1, and Calgary grabbed the opener 3-2. Montreal’s young Chris Chelios, inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2013, scored once and assisted on two more to lead the Canadiens to a Game 2 win. Montreal then took the series lead when Game 3 went two overtimes and the Canadiens prevailed 4-3.

Montreal’s 1986 Stanley Cup was the one interruption of the Gretzky dynasty in Edmonton and they were poised to get another. But Mullen had seen his two goals in Game 3 wasted, and he came right back with two more, while the Calgary defense locked down and limited Montreal to 19 shots. A 4-2 win evened up the Finals.

Calgary won Game 5 by a 3-2 count and then Game 6 proved to be a grinding defensive game, with few shots, but also surprisingly subpar goaltending. No one in Calgary was picking any nits though, as their 4-2 victory brought home the championship. MacInnis only had seven goals in the playoffs, but his passing was fabulous, with 24 assists and he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the entire postseason.

The Calgary Flames were hoisting the Cup, and a run of NHL dynasties that had seen only Montreal, the New York Islanders and Edmonton win the title since 1975 finally ran its course in the 1989 NHL playoffs.

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 Edmonton Oilers Dynasty Flames Out In The 1986 NHL Playoffs

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By the time the 1986 NHL playoffs rolled around, hockey fans were used to watching dynasties. The Montreal Canadiens won four straight from 1976-79. The New York Islanders did the same from 1980-83. So when the Edmonton Oilers broke through in 1984 and followed it up with a repeat Stanley Cup in 1985, one could be forgiven for the assumption that the Oilers would be next in line to win up to four in a row. Only it didn’t work out that way.

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It’s not that Edmonton wasn’t a dynasty—they would eventually get four Stanley Cups, though it took to 1990. And it’s not that the 1986 edition wasn’t good enough. Wayne Gretzky won his seventh MVP award in as many seasons. Jari Kurri led the league in goals. The Oilers rolled to a league-best 56-17-7 record in the regular season.

The Calgary Flames were in the same division—the old Smythe, which was more or less the Pacific Division. The defense wasn’t great, and there was no clear offensive star—Dan Quinn’s 30 goals/42 assists were the best the Flames had, but would have made him a third or fourth option in Edmonton. But Calgary had enough team-wide balance to still be the second-most prolific offense in the NHL.

Calgary and Edmonton met in the second round, and the Flames grabbed the first game of the series and then didn’t let go, taking Games 3 & 5. Edmonton forced a Game 7 back on their home ice, but Calgary’s 3-2 upset win sent shock waves through the NHL. A dynasty had died—or at least been interrupted—prematurely. The 1986 NHL playoffs were now wide open.

The Flames beat the St. Louis Blues in the conference finals, again going seven games and this time getting a 3-2 win. Calgary wasn’t known for their defense, but they won two close, low-scoring Game 7s in the playoffs to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.

On the opposite side of the bracket, a 20-year-old goalie was starting on a great NHL career. Patrick Roy would gain his greatest fame for what he did with the Colorado Avalanche in the latter part of the 1990s, but he would start his career by leading the Montreal Canadiens to a brief restoration of their glory.

Montreal had a nice regular season, but at 40-33-7, there were four teams in the Wales Conference (later re-named the Eastern Conference) better. Similarly, Roy was a promising young goalie, but with a 3.35 Goals Against Average, he wasn’t setting the world on fire.

All that changed in the postseason. Roy lifted his game to a new level, posting a 1.92 GAA throughout the four playoff rounds. Montreal got their share of breaks—all four teams ahead of them in the Wales were upset, and the Canadiens managed to get through three playoff rounds by playing inferior teams. They took advantage of the opportunity, with Roy delivering a big 2-1 overtime win in a Game 7 against the Hartford Whalers in the second round, and Montreal reached the Finals.

In a world of pure justice, Calgary would have been able to win the Stanley Cup, as the team that dethroned the dynasty. And Calgary took Game 1 of the Finals. But it proved better to have a young Patrick Roy on your side than some abstract concept of justice. After giving up five goals in Game 1, Roy took over and allowed just two goals per game the rest of the way. Montreal took each of the next four games and Roy won the Conn Smythe Award as MVP of the entire postseason.

The 1986 NHL playoffs started with expectation of an Edmonton dynasty. It ended with a temporary restoration of the Montreal lineage. 

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.