EDMONTON, AB - Although the 1984-85 Oilers were voted the greatest team in NHL history, the players from that memorable group think the subsequent Oilers squads got better as the years went by.
"We learned from our mistakes, as the proverb goes," said Oilers great Glenn Anderson. "You never lose the lesson. That was part of how to win. We knew what it took. We were winning the Presidents' Trophy back in those days and then all of a sudden, we weren't the best team in the NHL. We weren't winning the Presidents' Trophy but we were losing fewer games to other teams because we learned how to play defensively. If you can make a run to the Stanley Cup the quickest way possible and we learned that without injuries, being lucky, getting the right bounces, getting the right calls, making the big saves, scoring the right goals at the right time. The fewer games we could play, the better we felt. The fewer the games that the Oilers teams that won played, that's who I think were the better teams."
BLOG: 1984-85 Oilers on how they learned to win
Understanding opponents and defeating them quicker were lessons learned in the dynasty years
