1988 Stanley Cup Finals

Template:Short description Template:Infobox Stanley Cup Final

The 1988 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1987–88 season, and the culmination of the 1988 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins. The Oilers would win the series in a four game sweep.Template:Efn This would be the sixth of eight consecutive Finals contested by a team from Alberta (the Oilers appeared in six of them, the Calgary Flames in two), and the last of five consecutive Finals to end with the Cup presentation on Alberta ice (the Oilers won four such Cups, the Montreal Canadiens the other). The series is remembered for the power failure that occurred during game four at Boston Garden, which caused that contest to be suspended. The league decided to replay game four at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, at the site, date and time that was originally scheduled for game five.

Paths to the Finals

For more details on this topic, see 1988 Stanley Cup playoffs.

See also: 1987–88 Boston Bruins season and 1987–88 Edmonton Oilers season

Edmonton defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4–1, the Calgary Flames 4–0 and the Detroit Red Wings 4–1 to reach the Finals.

Boston defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4–2, the Montreal Canadiens 4–1 and the New Jersey Devils 4–3 to reach the Finals.

Game summaries

The Finals pitted the Oilers' offensive juggernaut against the Bruins' more balanced team. The Oilers showed their defensive prowess, surrendering just nine goals in the four completed games. Ray Bourque was physical in defending against Gretzky, but that would not ground the "Great One" on his way to claiming his second Conn Smythe Trophy and setting playoff records with 31 assists in just 18 games, and 13 points in the Finals series.

Game one

Summary Template:IceHockeybox

Game two

Summary

Template:Icehockeybox

Game three

Summary

Game four (suspended)

Glenn Anderson set a new record for quickest goal from the start of a Finals game when he scored ten seconds into the contest. That record was tied two years later in the third game of the 1990 Finals by John Byce who, in a twist, was playing for the Bruins against the Oilers. Fog interfered with the game, requiring stoppages during the second period so that all 40+ players could skate around the ice to clear it away. The Oilers scored with 3:23 left in the second period, tying the game at 3–3, then the arena suffered a power failure before the ensuing face-off. The teams were sent to their dressing room untilTemplate:Sndafter a very long delay and no change in the situationTemplate:SndNHL President John Ziegler Jr. announced that the game was suspended. Despite the game being suspended and replayed, Anderson's record is official.

Game four was subsequently rescheduled and moved to Edmonton, which was originally set to be the site of a game five if necessary. The Oilers won that game, sweeping the series and winning their fourth Stanley Cup in five years. Had the Bruins extended the series to the full seven games, game five would have been played on the original date for game six in Boston, Edmonton would have hosted the rescheduled game six, and then game seven would have been played in Boston as the makeup game.

Game five

Summary

Series summary

Boston Bruins vs. Edmonton Oilers

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	Notes
May 18	Boston Bruins	1	Edmonton Oilers	2
May 20	Boston Bruins	2	Edmonton Oilers	4
May 22	Edmonton Oilers	6	Boston Bruins	3
May 24	Edmonton Oilers	3	Boston Bruins	3	Game suspended at 16:37 of second period due to power failure.
May 26	Boston Bruins	3	Edmonton Oilers	6

Edmonton wins best-of-seven series 4–0Template:Efn

Team rosters

Years indicated in boldface under the "Finals appearance" column signify that the player won the Stanley Cup in the given year.

Boston Bruins

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
33		Blum, JohnJohn Blum	D	R	1983–84	Detroit, Michigan	first (did not play)
77		Bourque, RayRay Bourque – C	D	L	1979	Saint-Laurent, Quebec	first
12		Burridge, RandyRandy Burridge	LW	L	1985	Fort Erie, Ontario	first
34		Byers, LyndonLyndon Byers	RW	R	1982	Nipawin, Saskatchewan	first
18		Crowder, KeithKeith Crowder – A	RW	R	1979	Windsor, Ontario	first
40		Hawgood, GregGreg Hawgood	D	L	1986	Edmonton, Alberta	first (did not play)
23		Janney, CraigCraig Janney	C	L	1986	Hartford, Connecticut	first
39		Johnston, GregGreg Johnston	RW	R	1983	Barrie, Ontario	first (did not play)
27		Joyce, BobBob Joyce	LW	L	1987–88	Saint John, New Brunswick	first
11		Kasper, SteveSteve Kasper	C	L	1980	Saint-Lambert, Quebec	first
6		Kluzak, GordGord Kluzak	D	L	1982	Climax, Saskatchewan	first
28		Larson, ReedReed Larson	D	R	1985–86	Minneapolis, Minnesota	first
37		Lemay, MoeMoe Lemay	LW	L	1987–88	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	second (1987)
1		Lemelin, RejeanRejean Lemelin	G	L	1987–88	Quebec City, Quebec	second (1986)
13		Linseman, KenKen Linseman	C	L	1984–85	Kingston, Ontario	third (1983, 1984)
17		Markwart, NevinNevin Markwart	LW	L	1983	Toronto, Ontario	first (did not play)
19		McCarthy, TomTom McCarthy	LW	L	1986–87	Toronto, Ontario	first
16		Middleton, RickRick Middleton – C	C	L	1976–77	Toronto, Ontario	third (1977, 1978)
29		Miller, JayJay Miller	LW	L	1985–86	Wellesley, Massachusetts	first
35		Moog, AndyAndy Moog	G	L	1987–88	Penticton, British Columbia	fifth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987)
8		Neely, CamCam Neely	RW	R	1986–87	Comox, British Columbia	first
10		O'Dwyer, BillyBilly O'Dwyer	C	L	1987–88	South Boston, Massachusetts	first
41		Pedersen, AllenAllen Pedersen	D	L	1983	Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta	first
25		Plett, WilliWilli Plett	RW	R	1987–88	Asunción, Paraguay	first
40		Shoebottom, BruceBruce Shoebottom	D	L	1987–88	Windsor, Ontario	first (did not play)
42		Sweeney, BobBob Sweeney	C	R	1982	Concord, Massachusetts	first
22	Template:Country data SWE	Thelven, MichaelMichael Thelven	D	R	1980	Stockholm, Sweden	first
26		Wesley, GlenGlen Wesley	D	L	1987	Red Deer, Alberta	first

Edmonton Oilers

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
12		Acton, KeithKeith Acton	C	L	1987–88	Stouffville, Ontario	first
9		Anderson, GlennGlenn Anderson	RW	L	1979	Vancouver, British Columbia	fifth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987)
6		Beukeboom, JeffJeff Beukeboom	D	R	1983	Ajax, Ontario	second (1987, did not play)
15		Courtnall, GeoffGeoff Courtnall	LW	L	1987–88	Victoria, British Columbia	first
31		Fuhr, GrantGrant Fuhr	G	R	1981	Spruce Grove, Alberta	fifth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987)
21		Gregg, RandyRandy Gregg	D	L	1981–82	Edmonton, Alberta	fifth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987)
99		Gretzky, WayneWayne Gretzky – C	C	L	1979–80	Brantford, Ontario	fifth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987)
12		Hannan, DaveDave Hannan	C	L	1987–88	Onaping Falls, Ontario	first
22		Huddy, CharlieCharlie Huddy	D	L	1980–81	Oshawa, Ontario	fifth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987)
26		Krushelnyski, MikeMike Krushelnyski	C	L	1984–85	Montreal, Quebec	third (1985, 1987)
17	Template:Country data FIN	Kurri, JariJari Kurri	RW	R	1980	Helsinki, Finland	fifth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987)
19		Lacombe, NormandNormand Lacombe	RW	R	1987–88	Montreal, Quebec	first
4		Lowe, KevinKevin Lowe – A	D	L	1979	Lachute, Quebec	fifth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987)
14		MacTavish, CraigCraig MacTavish	C	L	1985–86	London, Ontario	second (1987)
24		McClelland, KevinKevin McClelland	RW	R	1983–84	Oshawa, Ontario	fourth (1984, 1985, 1987)
33		McSorley, MartyMarty McSorley	D	R	1985–86	Hamilton, Ontario	second (1987)
11		Messier, MarkMark Messier – A	LW	L	1979	Edmonton, Alberta	fifth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987)
28		Muni, CraigCraig Muni	D	L	1986–87	Toronto, Ontario	second (1987)
30		Ranford, BillBill Ranford	G	L	1987–88	Brandon, Manitoba	first
18		Simpson, CraigCraig Simpson	LW	R	1987–88	London, Ontario	first
5		Smith, SteveSteve Smith	D	L	1981	Glasgow, Scotland	second (1987)
10	Template:Country data FIN	Tikkanen, EsaEsa Tikkanen	LW	L	1983	Helsinki, Finland	third (1985, 1987)

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1988 Stanley Cup was presented to Oilers captain Wayne Gretzky by NHL President John Ziegler following the Oilers 6–3 win over the Bruins in game four.

The following Oilers players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1988 Edmonton Oilers Template:Stanley Cup champion

Broadcasting

In the United States, this was the final year under ESPN's national three-year deal. Under the U.S. TV contracts that would take effect beginning next season, SportsChannel America would take over as the NHL's American television partner.

ESPN's coverage of the 1988 Cup Finals was blacked out locally in the Boston area due to WSBK and NESN's local rights to Bruins games.

In Canada, this was the second and final year that the English-language rights to the Cup Finals was split between the Global-Canwest consortium and the CBC. Global aired games one and two. The CBC aired game three, then both the original and replayed game fours. CBC had the rights to game 5 of Stanley Cup Finals, and Canwest/Global also had the rights to games 6 & 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins (both CBC and Canwest/Global had the rights of Game 7, using separate production facilities and separate on-air talent), which were not necessary.

See also

• 1987–88 NHL season
• List of Stanley Cup champions

Further reading

• CBC Archives 1988 Stanley Cup Finals Blackout in Boston

References

• Diamond, Dan (2000). Total Stanley Cup. Toronto: Total Sports Canada. ISBN 978-1-892129-07-9. https://archive.org/details/totalstanleycupo0000unse. 
• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Bolton, Ont: Fenn Pub.. pp. 12, 50. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7. 

Notes

Template:Notelist

Preceded by Edmonton Oilers 1987

Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup Champions 1988

Succeeded by Calgary Flames 1989