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When Wayne Gretzky accepted the Stanley Cup in 1984, it was the birth of a hockey dynasty in Edmonton.
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Birth of a dynasty
By John Kreiser | NHL.com Columnist
June 8, 2006
When the Edmonton Oilers were growing up, they wanted to be the New York Islanders. In 1984, they finally did.
Of such growth was a dynasty born.
The Isles were the NHL's dynasty of the early 1980s. Led by five Hall of Famers -- Billy Smith, Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier and Clark Gillies -- they won four straight Stanley Cups from 1980-83. Two of those Cups included victories over the Oilers: a six-game triumph in the second round in 1981, and a stunning four-game sweep in the 1983 Finals after the cocky Oilers had set scoring records during the regular season and had the home-ice advantage in the championship round.
The Islanders were a mature team at their peak. They were the team that the Oilers, with most of their key players still in their early 20s, wanted to be.
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Schedule / Links:
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| Gm. 1: CAR 5, EDM 4 | Photos |
| Gm. 2: CAR 5, EDM 0 | Photos |
Gm. 3: June 10, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
Gm. 4: June 12, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 5: June 14, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 6: June 17, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 7: June 19, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
| *if necessary |
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"I idolized them," remembered Dave Hunter, a member of both the 1983 and 1984 Oilers teams -- which, unlike this year's Cup finalist, relied on a record-setting offense instead of a stingy defense. "The Islanders were so well-respected because they had such great teams. We were a little bit intimidated."
But when the teams met again in the 1984 Finals, the Oilers showed they had learned from the previous year's defeat.
"They taught us so much," Wayne Gretzky said years later. "After the 1983 Finals, we had to walk by the Islanders' locker room and we saw guys limping around and putting ice on themselves. We didn't have a scratch. We learned a lot about what it took to win."
They put those lessons to good use in the 1984 rematch.
"We had to learn from things like being swept by the Islanders that sometimes you can get too cocky," Hunter said. "If you're not humble, you get slapped. You have to come into a series and know inside what it's going to take, and everybody has to have a job. That's what we learned from the Islanders. They had a lot of guys who paid the price and did what it took to win."
The Islanders could have taught seminars on the subject of winning -- 16 players had been on all four Cup teams and three others had played on three of the four. They entered the 1984 Finals having won 19 consecutive playoff series -- a record that may never be broken. But all that winning had come with a price: The Isles had played more than a full season's worth of playoff games in the previous four years, and the physical toll was starting to show.
"I think the guys were starting to feel the effects of that," Potvin said of the postseason games. "We were starting to wear down, and we were getting older -- a lot of guys were in their 30s. Injuries took a toll on us, and the first three rounds were a grind."
It was also a tough time for Potvin on a personal basis.
"It was a most difficult time for me because my dad passed away. I believe (defenseman) Dave Langevin's dad died at that time, too," he said. "It rips a chunk out of you. I know it if had happened in June or July, I wouldn't have felt the way I did during the playoffs."
The Oilers got some help from a change in the playoff format. The NHL switched to a 2-3-2 format, instead of the usual 2-2-1-1-1 scheduling. That meant if they Oilers could win one of the first two games at the Nassau Coliseum, they would have a chance to close out the series at home.
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Led by two transcendent talents in Gretzky and Messier, the Oilers captured five Stanley Cups in seven seasons.
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"I don't know why they switched the format," Potvin said. "I know it was hard on us because we had so many guys who were injured -- you can't get the same kind of treatment on the road that you can at home."
The Oilers got the road win they needed when Grant Fuhr stood on his head in the opener and Kevin McClelland, a fourth-line forward, scored in the third period for a 1-0 victory. The Isles evened the series with a 6-1 win in Game 2 and actually took a 2-1 lead in Game 3. That's when Mark Messier took over.
"We had the lead, and Messier's goal turned the game around," Potvin said of the most spectacular tally of the series, a goal on which Messier sent defenseman Gord Dineen sprawling to the ice with a fake, then beat Smith to tie the game at 2-2. "I think from that point, the Oilers began seeing for the first time that they could beat us. They got better and better."
Hunter wasn't surprised that Messier, then a precocious 23-year-old, made the play that turned the series around.
"Mark was like a pit bull," Hunter said. "He was a great leader who led by example. When someone makes a play like Mark did, it pumps up the whole bench."
The Oilers went on to win 7-2, then rolled to another 7-2 victory in Game 4 and survived a third-period scare to win Game 5. Dave Lumley started the biggest party in Edmonton history when he scored into an empty net with 13 seconds remaining to clinch the 5-2 victory, ending one dynasty and starting another one.
"You dream about going to the Finals and winning the Stanley Cup," Hunter said. It's the most special thing that can happen in your life. It's always nice to play against the No. 1 team -- we had such respect for the Islanders. A lot of people didn't realize that."
The Oilers learned their lessons well. They won four Cups in five years, five Cups in seven. That's a lot of history for this year's underdog team to compete with as the Oilers face Carolina in search of Cup No. 6.
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