Oilers hoist Quest cup
NHL.com's Quest for the Best tournament proved to be everything it was built up to be, ending dramatically in Game 7 with a 5-3 victory by the fourth-seeded 1983-83 Edmonton Oilers over the second-seeded 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens led the series, three games to two, following their 6-3 victory Monday in Montreal, but they lost Game 6 Wednesday, 6-1, in Edmonton and never led on home ice in Game 7.
Glenn Anderson scored his fourth goal of the game, an empty-netter, with 20 seconds remaining to seal Edmonton's championship.
Oilers' goalie Grant Fuhr made 31 saves to win the finale. Montreal's Dryden made 29 stops in his bid to avoid a two-game losing streak and a home defeat at the Montreal Forum.
The Oilers downed the 24th-seeded 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games in the Quest for the Best semifinals. Edmonton also eliminated the 28th-seeded 1988-89 Calgary Flames; the 20th-seeded 1993-94 New York Rangers and the 29th-seeded 1931-32 Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canadiens defeated the sixth-seeded 1971-72 Boston Bruins in five games in the semifinals. Prior to that, they eliminated the No. 26 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings; the No. 18 2000-01 Colorado Avalanche and the No. 31 1926-27 Ottawa Senators.
The tourney proved to go according to form. The first and third seeds fell to the defeated semifinalists. The top-seeded 1955-56 Montreal Canadiens were eliminated in the third round by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins and the third-seeded 1981-82 New York Islanders fell in the same round to the 1971-72 Boston Bruins.
The tournament's climatic game started ominously when Edmonton left wing Dave Semenko, playing on a line with Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri, took Montreal right wing Guy Lafleur hard into the boards and punched him in the helmet. Defenseman Larry Robinson moved up quickly to prevent further mayhem and Semenko was sent off for roughing just 22 seconds into the game. The Canadiens were unable to convert on the power play before defenseman Serge Savard was sent off for elbowing penalty killer Gord Sherven at 1:06.
Three minutes later, Canadiens defenseman Pierre Bouchard was called for charging on Oilers center Mark Messier. This time, the Oilers did convert as Glenn Anderson redirected Messier's feed from the side boards past Ken Dryden at 4:06 to open the scoring. Edmonton defenseman Paul Coffey assisted on the play.
The same three players were again penalized in the first period, without consequences. Bouchard was called for roughing Ken Linseman at 5:51; Semenko went off for boarding Canadiens right wing Murray Wilson at 8:58 and Savard got caught holding Gretzky at 11:30.
What was becoming evident was the effect the Oilers' big left wings were having on the Canadiens' right wings. The Canadiens were basically short a line in this series as center Doug Jarvis and left wing Bob Gainey were nursing injuries sustained in the semifinals. Each saw light duty as a penalty killer. In Game 7, Jarvis actually had the most time of any game in the Finals, killing 3:36 of penalties. But, that was all in the first period. He watched the second period from the bench and was in the dressing room for the third period. Gainey saw only 1:18 in penalty-killing time, none in the first two periods. Gainey was on his second shorthanded shift when he was called on a coincidental-roughing minor after a brief scrap with Jaroslav Pouzar. He did not return.
This was a series in which both Montreal coach Scotty Bowman and Edmonton coach Glen Sather relied more on "pairs" than lines. Bowman kept his top line of center Jacques Lemaire, right wing Guy Lafleur and left wing Steve Shutt together, but rotated his wings around centers Pete Mahovlich and Doug Risebrough, usually putting left wing Yvon Lambert out with Risebrough. Sather kept the pairs of Messier and Anderson and Gretzky and Kurri together, while rotating left wings Semenko, Dave Hunter, Raimo Summanen and Pouzar.
Edmonton's big left wings wore down Montreal's smaller right wings Wilson, Mario Tremblay and Rejean Houle. It became more noticeable over the last half of the game, but not before Wilson banged home his own rebound off a feed from Risebrough at 1:25 of the second period.
Anderson scored on a 2-on-1 with Messier to make it 2-1 Edmonton at 6:09. Lemaire evened it up again when he scored off a nice pass from Lafleur at 7:47, Shutt assisting. Pouzar put Edmonton back in front at 11:16 when he tipped Anderson's shot past Dryden.
The Oilers went up by two goals at 16:03 of the third period when Pouzar stripped Lafleur at center ice and head-manned the puck to Messier who had Anderson breaking in on right wing. Messier feathered a short pass that Anderson one-timed past Dryden. Shutt brought the Canadiens within a goal at 17:18 on a rush with Lemaire and Lafleur.
The Canadiens pulled Dryden with 58 seconds remaining, on a faceoff in the Edmonton end. They had several good chances until defenseman Rick Chartraw, playing in place of Savard, who had suffered hand injury midway through the period, was called for holding Kevin McClelland at 19:35. There was little Chartraw could do as Linseman had intercepted Larry Robinson's pass and delivered a feed that would have sent McClelland in alone on the empty net.
Trailing by a goal and down a man, Bowman went for broke with Robinson, Lemaire at the other point, Risebrough, Lafleur and Shutt. Risebrough won the faceoff from Messier and sent Shutt winging up the right side. His pass for Lafleur was intercepted by Semenko. Messier picked up the loose puck near the Edmonton blue line and passed to Anderson who centered a 60-foot shot into the open net.
