1982 SMYTHE DIVISION SEMIFINALS, GAME 3: EDMONTON OILERS AT LOS ANGELES KINGS
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“The Miracle on Manchester.”
That tag references Manchester Boulevard, in Inglewood, California, where the Forum, former home of the Kings and Lakers, is situated. The miracle in question was one of the greatest comebacks in the history of not only the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but of sports in general.
The miracle oozes added significance when viewed in the context of the events leading up to it. The 1981-82 NHL season served as the “coming-out party” of sorts for Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers, who completed the first in a string of dominant campaigns. They finished the year with the league’s second best overall record–the defending champion Islanders were first–and led the NHL with a whopping 417 goals scored, setting a new record, one they would break in subsequent seasons. 92 of those goals came courtesy of the Great One, which also set a new record. #99 also recorded 120 assists, for 212 total points–yet another record, one he would break four seasons later.
The Oilers were still undergoing growing pains as a team, but were already loaded: Aside from Gretzky, wingers Jari Kurri, Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson had already established themselves as stars in their own right, and defenseman Paul Coffey would emerge in this campaign as the premier offensive rearguard in the league. Perhaps even more responsible for the team’s rise to elite status was the play of rookie goaltender Grant Fuhr. The league’s first ever goaltender of (partly) African descent lost only five games in 48 appearances on the season. Fuhr’s play relegated the previous year’s star netminder, Andy Moog, to the minors for most of the campaign, after the latter seemed to experience a sophomore jinx right out of the gate.
By stark contrast, the Kings finished fourth in the Smythe Division with just 63 points, making the postseason due only to the lenient format of the time; the top four teams in each division made the cut, in a league of 21 total teams and four divisions. A team essentially just had to avoid finishing last to make the playoffs, or second to last if they played in the Patrick Division, as the Flyers did. Fortunately for L.A., the league’s worst team that year–the lowly Colorado Rockies, who would relocate to East Rutherford, New Jersey during the off-season and become the Devils–also played in the Smythe, finishing with just 49 points, 14 behind the Kings. The Purple and Gold–those were the Kings’ colors back then–were traveling in the opposite direction of the Oilers: They had finished the previous campaign as one of the NHL’s better squads, with 99 points on the strength of 43 wins. In one year, they had tumbled 36 points in the standings.
They gave up even more than that to their rivals from Edmonton: 48 points separated the two teams at regular season’s end. That said, even on paper the series was not as much of a mismatch as you might think. The Kings could score, as they boasted their own superstar center in Marcel Dionne, who potted 50 goals and remained the pivotman for the team’s renowned “Triple Crown” line, with Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor on the wings. Rookie Bernie Nicholls had emerged late in the year as an undeniable talent, youngsters Steve Bozek and Jim Fox each hit the 30-goal mark, and future Hall of Fame blueliner Larry Murphy chipped in 22 of his own. The Kings also had plenty of grit with which to combat the slick Edmonton attack, primarily in the form of rugged and reliable d-man Jay Wells–who would don the Orange and Black for two seasons at decade’s end–and forwards Mike Murphy and Daryl Evans, the latter of whom [SPOILER ALERT] would win this game for the Kings just a couple of minutes into the overtime period.
The teams split the first two games at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. The Kings surprisingly took Game 1 in a wild, see-saw affair that set a new single-game NHL postseason record as both teams combined for 18 goals. After the Oilers fought back to tie the game at 8 in the third period, the Triple Crown Line struck gold with just over five minutes to play in regulation, with Simmer netting the go-ahead tally. Nicholls added an empty-net insurance goal to seal the 10-8 upset victory. The Oil got even in Game 2, which was a much more subdued match, at least on the score sheet. The Kings carried a 2-1 lead into the final stanza, but Kurri evened things up just past the five-minute mark. Then, 6:20 into O.T., Gretzky won it for Edmonton to send the series to L.A. tied.
In the early and mid-1980s, the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs was only best of five games, so the third game of the first round often served as the most pivotal of the series. It was conceivable that whichever team took Game 3 would likely advance to the Smythe Division Final.
Physical fireworks characterized the game from the get-go. Not even ten seconds in, Glenn Anderson and Steve Bozek were called for coincidental minor penalties. Anderson soon redeemed himself just over halfway through the opening stanza, threading a perfect pass to Mark Messier, who opened the scoring to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead. Oilers forward Dave Hunter was called for holding with 1:14 remaining. Just four seconds later, Bernie Nicholls (hooking) and Garry Unger (slashing) received coincidental minor penalties. On the ensuing L.A. power play and in the final minute of the period, the Great One beat Kings goalie Mario Lessard despite having his stick lifted by Evans. 2-0 Oilers at intermission.
Just 43 seconds into the second, and on the very same Los Angeles power play, defenseman Lee Fogolin took a pass from Gretzky and fired a shot that found the net only because Lessard badly misplayed the angle. 3-0, with two of the three Edmonton goals coming shorthanded. Minutes later, the teams each had two players in the penalty box and skated three-on-three–coincidental minors didn’t “cancel out” back then. During this time, Oilers rearguard Risto Siltanen–a very good offensive defenseman in his own right, but ultimately made expendable by the emergence of Coffey–one-timed another Gretzky pass into the Kings net. 4-0. #99 added yet another goal on the power play with roughly six minutes left in the period. Heading to the third, the Oilers held a commanding 5-0 lead.
Aiming to salvage some dignity and create some momentum to carry with them into Game 4, the Kings concentrated on “little things,” as Marcel Dionne stated in an interview. The comeback began 2:46 into the final frame, with the teams at four-on-four, courtesy of future Flyer Jay Wells (a player not known for offense), who converted a pass from Dionne. Just over three minutes later, while on the power play, Kings center Doug Smith took advantage of confusion in front of the Edmonton net, when Oiler defenseman Kevin Lowe couldn’t manage to get the puck out from between his skates. Smith hammered it home. 5-2.
The comeback bid seemed destined to fail, as several minutes of game time elapsed with no further scoring. With under six minutes remaining, the teams were yet AGAIN at four-on-four. (The teams combined for 227 penalty minutes.) Kings winger Dean Hopkins intercepted an Edmonton pass, and passed to Charlie Simmer. Simmer tried a wrap-around, but Fuhr blocked it. However, defenseman Randy Gregg inadvertently caused Fuhr to fall back, allowing the puck to cross the line. 5-3. The Forum came alive.
Just 22 seconds after that goal, with exactly five minutes remaining, Unger was whistled off for high-sticking Kings winger Dave Lewis. Lewis was cut, and visible blood entailed an automatic five-minute major. (Unger was also assessed a ten-minute misconduct penalty.) Lewis was given a roughing penalty on the same play, which meant the teams would be at four-on-four–a recurring theme in this game–for the next two minutes. Within that time, L.A.’s Mark Hardy fired an absolute beauty of a wrist shot past a sprawling Fuhr, into the net on the far side. It was now a one-goal game.
Lewis’ penalty expired, and the Kings went on the power play for the remainder of Unger’s major penalty (the final three minutes of regulation). Both teams had several scoring chances, with play going end-to-end at a feverish pace. The Kings briefly changed goalies at one point, for the sole purpose of giving their power play unit a rest (the rules dictated the replacement goalie be given a certain amount of time to warm up). Seconds later, Lessard was reinserted into the game, only to be pulled for an extra skater with roughly a minute left. This effectively put the Kings up two attackers. The Purple and Gold dictated play in the Oilers’ zone in the final 45 seconds, and with just five ticks of the clock left in the third period, Bozek backhanded the rebound from a Mark Hardy shot past Fuhr. Tie game, and the Forum was essentially Standing Room Only at this point.
Overtime began with a golden opportunity for Edmonton, as Lessard left his crease to challenge Anderson for a bouncing puck. Messier took control of the puck as Hardy desperately sprinted across the goal mouth. It worked, as Messier’s shot sailed wide. Just two minutes later, Smith won a key offensive-zone face-off against Messier, feeding the puck back to young Daryl Evans, who immediately fired a slap shot. The puck found the upper corner of the Oiler net, cleanly beating Fuhr. The crowd erupted, and Evans skated the length of the ice with his teammates trailing him in celebration. The Kings had pulled off a seemingly impossible comeback to win the game, 6-5, and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.
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AFTERMATH
After dropping Game 4 on the same Forum ice, the teams traveled back to Edmonton for the deciding Game 5. The Kings prevailed, 7-4, completing the upset. To date, it is the biggest upset in Stanley Cup Playoff history in terms of the deficit in regular season points between the two teams.
The Kings’ joy was short-lived, however, as they would lose to the Vancouver Canucks in five games in a Smythe Division Final that was much closer than the final result indicated. Four of the five games were decided by one goal, two in overtime. The Canucks would be the real Cinderella team that spring, as they would also defeat the Chicago Blackhawks in the Campbell Conference Final before bowing to the Islander dynasty in four straight games in the final round.
The young Oilers apparently learned their lesson from the Miracle on Manchester, which was not to take any team for granted. The following spring they would reach the Cup Finals for the first time, but would meet the same fate as the Canucks. However, they would exact revenge on the Isles in ’84, thus beginning their own dynasty.
Roughly 50 months after that first Cup victory, Wayne Gretzky would be traded . . . to the Los Angeles Kings.
WATCH THE GAME HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpHAYRP61Hg&feature=youtu.be BEWARE: For those of you too young to remember, the Forum had infamously horrible sightlines for the viewers at home when the fans in front of the cameramen stood up. Fast-forward to Bozek’s tying goal in the final seconds of the third period and see what I mean!
