RE-LIVE THE EDMONTON OILERS 1985-86 SEASON

8 years ago

Having already paraded the Stanley Cup up and down Jasper Ave. the two previous seasons, fans of the Edmonton Oilers had every reason to be thinking three-peat when the 1985-86 season began. The Oilers were young, ridiculously talented and getting better. They beat opponents for fun.

And, despite an off-ice bump in the road before the start of the season – Mark Messier totaled his Porsche when he slammed into three parked cars and was charged with hit-and-run – when the puck dropped on the new campaign, the Oilers put the pedal to the medal and didn’t look back.

The Oilers finished atop NHL standings with 119 points, tying a franchise record and finishing 30 points ahead of the Calgary Flames in the Smythe Division. The Oilers scored 400-or-more goals for the fifth straight season. Wayne Gretzky tallied a career-high and NHL record 215 points and Paul Coffey scored 48 goals, breaking the record for defensemen, previously held by Bobby Orr with 46. It seemed there was no stopping them.

But an unlikely calamity unfolded as the Oilers roared down the road to Dynasty City and that third straight Cup parade in the second round of the playoffs against the Flames when rookie defenceman Steve Smith took a puck behind his net, looked up the ice and then, well, you know the rest . . .

RECORD 56-17-7 119 points, 1st in NHL

GD 426-310 plus-116 SH% 16.1 SV% .889

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS

1985-12-28	Billy Carroll traded to Detroit for Bruce Eakin.
1985-12-20	Marc Habscheid traded to Minnesota with Don Barber and Emmanuel Viveiros for Don Biggs and Gord Sherven.
1985-12-20	Larry Melnyk traded to NY Rangers with Todd Strueby for Mike Rogers.
1985-12-20	Gord Sherven traded by Minnesota with Don Biggs for Don Barber, Marc Habscheid and Emmanuel Viveiros.
1985-12-05	Jeff Brubaker claimed on waivers from Toronto.
1985-10-07	Willy Lindstrom claimed on waivers by Pittsburgh.
1985-10-04	Pat Hughes traded to Pittsburgh for Mike Moller.
1985-09-27	Dean Hopkins signed as free agent (formerly with Los Angeles).
1985-09-12	Marty McSorley traded by Pittsburgh with Tim Hrynewich and future considerations (Craig Muni, October 6, 1986) for Gilles Meloche.
1985-08-15	Ken Solheim signed as free agent (formerly with Minnesota).
1985-06-15	Kelly Buchberger drafted 188th overall.
1985-06-15	Scott Metcalfe drafted 20th overall.
1985-06-15	Michael Ware drafted 62nd overall.

LEADING SCORERS

Player	Pos	Age	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S%
Wayne Gretzky	C	25	80	52	163	215	71	46	14.9
Paul Coffey	D	24	79	48	90	138	61	120	15.6
Jari Kurri	RW	25	78	68	63	131	45	22	28.8
Glenn Anderson	RW	25	72	54	48	102	38	90	22.2
Mark Messier	C	25	63	35	49	84	36	68	17.4
Mark Napier	RW	29	80	24	32	56	13	14	20.5
Craig MacTavish	C	27	74	23	24	47	17	70	19.0
Charlie Huddy	D	26	76	6	35	41	30	55	4.0
Mike Krushelnyski	LW	25	54	16	24	40	11	22	16.3
Raimo Summanen	LW	23	73	19	18	37	7	16	22.9

SEASON RECAP

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Save for Messier piling up his Porsche, the two-time defending Cup champion Oilers hit the regular season road on a roll to open the 1985-86 season, winning 10 of their first 12 games. Gretzky was flying. So was Jari Kurri, who’d become the first player other than Gretzky to lead the Oilers in goals, notching 68. Coffey was ridiculously good.

With 56 wins and 119 points, the Oilers finished well clear of the Philadelphia Flyers (110 points) and the Washington Capitals (107 points) atop overall standings during the regular season. With 426 goals, the Oilers finished 72 goals ahead of the next best team, Calgary with 354. The Oilers, simply put, were the class of the NHL, and by a good measure.

When the Oilers drew the Vancouver Canucks, who’d finished 16th overall with 59 points, in the opening round of the playoffs, it was every bit as much of a mismatch on the ice as it was on paper. The Oilers blitzed the overmatched Canucks, outscoring them 17-5, winning 7-3, 5-1 and 5-1, to sweep the best-of-five series. That set up a second-round showdown with the Flames in the latest installment of the Battle of Alberta.

CRASH AND BURN

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As was the case often during the decade of the 1980s, the underdog Flames played their best hockey of the season against the Oilers, forcing a Game 7 back in Edmonton with 4-1, 3-2 and 4-1 wins in the first six. That set the stage for Smith, who found himself cast into the spotlight with one of the greatest gaffes in Stanley Cup history on April 30th – his birthday.

With the game tied 2-2, the Flames dumped the puck behind Edmonton’s net on a line change. Grant Fuhr stopped the puck behind the net. Fuhr had just circled around the left post into his crease when Smith took the puck and attempted a pass up-ice. The puck bounced off the back of Fuhr’s left leg and into the net to give the Flames a 3-2 lead with 14:46 to play. It’s a lead the Flames wouldn’t relinquish in front of a stunned capacity crowd.

Smith would play more than 800 games in the NHL, including 385 as a member of the Oilers, but the sound of Edmonton’s dynasty bandwagon hitting the wall the moment that puck trickled over the goal line is the play he will always be remembered for.

RECENTLY BY ROBIN BROWNLEE

Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TSN 1260.