Mike Allison's Memorable, Gloveless Playoff Goal

When Mike Allison thinks back to his only goal of the 1989 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he downplays it significance.

"There isn't some big magical story that goes with it, it was just a lucky goal at a lucky moment," he said. "I got lucky, that's all I can say."

Allison, of course, is leaving out a few keys details. For starters, after getting hemmed into the boards behind Edmonton's goal line, Allison made his way to the far side of the net despite having defenseman Randy Gregg draped over him like an ill-fitting shirt.

While the Oiler blueliner continued to maul him, Allison then lost his left glove but continued his drive to the net. As the pair get tangled up further to the right of goaltender Grant Fuhr they started to fall. Just before Allison crashed to the ice, he got the puck off his stick and beat Fuhr five-hole.

It's an incredible effort. Allison scoring while falling is actually one of the least impressive parts of the play. What sticks out, after more than thirty years, is that he managed to navigate his way, and the puck, to the net with one gloveless hand practically tied behind his back, all the while dragging a relentless Gregg with him.

For all those reasons, it is one of the most memorable playoff goals in Kings history and that's without even getting into its impact on the game, which we'll get to that later.

Although Allison says he didn't score many goals - he actually has 102 more NHL goals than most people - he acknowledges that he doesn't remember this particular goal in much detail. Luckily, there's a clip of it on YouTube and I shared it with him in the hope he'd have a look at it before our conversation.

Allison dutifully did his homework and it jogged his memory.

"If you look at it, everyone really, on that play, was paying attention to Wayne," he said. "Mark Messier went to Wayne. Even though I was being checked by Randy Gregg, I think in the back of his mind he was thinking this guy is going to give it Wayne, he's going to give it to Wayne."

Even as Allison inched his way closer to the Edmonton net, he still didn't think the focus had shifted to him.

"I think Grant Fuhr was more concerned, really everybody, was concerned about Wayne," he said. "The goal shouldn't have gone in. No one had thought that this guy was going to come around the net and stuff it."

What resonates for Allison, more than the goal itself, is what it meant for the Kings. Facing elimination on the road and trailing 1-0 with just minutes to go before the second intermission, it was the spark the club needed.

"Somebody was going to get that goal," Allison said.

The series, of course, was not just any other matchup. Gretzky, who was traded from the Oilers to Los Angeles less than a year earlier, was facing his former team. After setting the all-time points record in Edmonton during the regular-season, all eyes were on Gretzky yet again. This time, however, there was far more at stake.

"I don't think anyone can appreciate what Wayne had to carry that year," Allison said. "He was carrying not only the LA Kings. He was extremely intelligent about the moment and the time in hockey. I think he always had a bigger perspective on what getting traded to southern California meant for the game. He knew what he was carrying."

Heading into Game Six in Edmonton, LA was down 3-2 in the series and while some might have thought the Kings may come up short, but that was the furthest thing from anyone's mind in the dressing room.

"We weren't going to lose that series," Allison said.

The team may not have explicitly told Gretzky they wanted to win it for him, but Allison knows that's how they all felt.

"He was such a wonderful guy that you just wanted to find a way to have success," he said.

Following Allison's goal, the Kings scored three unanswered goals in the third period to win 4-1 and force a game seven back at home in Los Angeles.

In the decisive game, Gretzky opened the scoring less than a minute into the contest and closed it with a shorthanded empty-netter. The Kings handily won 6-3 and advanced to take on the Flames.

Although the club went on to lose four straight to the eventual Cup champions, Allison fondly remembers his goal because it reminds of him of Gretzky's first season in Los Angeles and how special it was for the game.

"It was such a moment in time and everything that seemed to follow him [Gretzky] around, it seemed to be just bigger than hockey itself," he said. "The thing that makes it nice for me personally is that the goal came at that time and it was bigger than the moment."

Allison's goal was certainly part of an important new era in the game's history, but it's worthy of celebration in its own right. Few Kings players have scored more tremendous goals and even fewer have done so with a 215-pound defenseman on their back.