The Edmonton Oilers begin their Stanley Cup final series against the Florida Panthers Saturday night. And in this feature story from THN’s June 15, 1988 edition (Volume 41, Issue 37), then-associate editor Steve Dryden profiled superstar Wayne Gretzky and the Oilers as they won their fourth Cup in franchise history.
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Gretzky was dominant in the 1988 Cup Final, powering the Oilers to a sweep of the Boston Bruins. And there were never enough superlatives to use in describing how much of a needle-mover he really was.
“Wayne is a mystique,” Oilers’ then-coach-GM Glen Sather told Dryden. “There’s nobody like him.”
“He’s the best,” Boston coach Terry O’Reilly added in describing Gretzky. “There’s no doubt about it.”
Gretzky’s Cup win was the final one of his Hockey Hall-of-Fame career – and his final Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs – but the typically humble Oilers star deferred praise to teammates like veteran defenseman Kevin Lowe.
“It comes down to people like Kevin,” said Gretzky. “Kevin played the whole playoffs with a broken wrist, with a cast on his hand and he played the last two rounds with three broken ribs.”
THE PROS AND CONNS OF GREAT GRETZKY
By Steve Dryden
The only person who got the better of Wayne Gretzky during the Stanley Cup playoffs was his barber.
Gretzky, who sported a fashionable brushcut for the finals, was dominant in leading the Edmonton Oilers to Stanley Cup No. 4.
The blond superstar scored 12 goals and 31 assists en route to winning the second Conn Smythe Trophy of his career. He was also named playoff MVP in 1985.
“Wayne is a mystique,” said Oilers’ coach-general manager Glen Sather. “There’s nobody like him.”
Gretzky scored one goal and assisted on two others in the Oilers’ 6-3 Cup-winning triumph.
His power-play goal, at 9:44 of the second period, gave Edmonton a decisive 4-2 lead. It was his 12th of the playoffs and proved to be the Stanley Cup winner.
Gretzky and linemates Esa Tikkanen and Jari Kurri controlled the game on their every shift. Tikkanen scored twice and added an assist and Kurri contributed two assists.
The goals were Tikkanen’s fifth and sixth through games 3, 4A (the blackout contest) and 4B. Gretzky, the best playmaker in NHL history, assisted on five of them.
Gretzky’s 31 assists eclipsed his own record of 30, set in 1985. Two of them came in game 4A. The NHL decided to count individual statistics from the game, but not the game itself.
Two days later in Edmonton, No. 99 owned the ice surface.
“Wayne had that look in his eyes and the flush in his cheeks,” said Sather, “and you knew he was going to make all the right moves.”
Following a regular season interrupted by knee and eye injuries, he made “all the right moves’’ throughout the playoffs. In the minds of many, he reasserted himself as the league’s premier player, after being overshadowed by Mario Lemieux during the regular season.
“He’s the best,” Boston coach Terry O’Reilly said of Gretzky. “There’s no doubt about it.”
Gretzky scored a point in every playoff game but one, the second of the post-season against the Winnipeg Jets. He had a five-point effort in game five versus Winnipeg, scored a goal in three of four games against Calgary, including a shorthanded overtime marker in game two, collected 13 points versus Detroit and added a record 13 points in the final series.
The other two Smythe candidates heading into the Stanley Cup showdown were Oiler center Mark Messier and goalie Grant Fuhr. Messier wasn’t enough of an offensive threat—earning one goal and two assists in the finals—and Fuhr wasn’t busy enough—in three of the four complete games he faced fewer than 20 shots—to merit serious consideration.
Gretzky was most proud of his consistency, but praised his teammates.
“Glenn Anderson might have been our most important player the last three games,” said Gretzky. “He scored some big goals and made some big plays. Stevie Smith was outstanding the whole series.”
He reserved special words for Kevin Lowe, however.
“It comes down to people like Kevin,” said Gretzky. “Kevin played the whole playoffs with a broken wrist, with a cast on his hand and he played the last two rounds with three broken ribs.”
By winning the Conn Smythe, Gretzky kept alive a nine-year streak in the NHL—he has won a major award every season of his career.
The streak was in jeopardy. He’s a finalist for the Hart and Lady Byng Trophies but isn’t expected to win the Hart, which annually goes to the regular-season MVP.
That honor should go to Lemieux, who ended Gretzky’s seven-year run as scoring champion. He will also likely end Gretzky’s eight-year hold on the Hart.
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News Summary:
- Archive: 36 Years Ago, Oilers Icon Wayne Gretzky Powered His Way To Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe Honors
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