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Throwback Thursday: Oilers win Game 1 of 1990 Stanley Cup Final in triple overtime

Originally posted on Oilersnation | By Ryley Delaney | Last updated Jun 5, 2025 6:01 PM ET

It’s not often you see the Edmonton Oilers win Game 1 of a playoff series in the Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl era.

Coming into Wednesday evening’s game, the Oilers were 4-11 in the first game of the series, managing to win seven of the series after a loss. In all-time postseason series, the Oilers are 24-3 when winning Game 1, with their most recent series loss after a Game 1 win coming in the second round of the 2017 postseason.

That begs the question: When was the last time the Oilers won Game 1 in the Stanley Cup Finals? Well, it was a while ago.

The 1990 postseason

By the 1989-90 season, Wayne Gretzky had been traded to the Los Angeles Kings. There were still remnants of the dynasty, as Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, and others. The Oilers finished with 90 points, good enough for second-best in the Smythe Division. It was a hard-fought first-round match-up against the original Winnipeg Jets, with the Oilers winning in seven games to move to the second round.

There, they faced Gretzky and the Kings, avenging their loss in the 1989 postseason, sweeping the California-based team to move to the Conference Finals. Tied 2-2 heading into Game 5, the Oilers were able to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks in Games 5 and 6 to move to their sixth Stanley Cup Finals in the last eight seasons.

On May 15, 1990, the Oilers headed to New England to take on the Boston Bruins in search of their fifth Stanley Cup. Game 1 saw the Oilers jump out to a 2-0 lead thanks to Adam Graves’ goal midway through the first, and Anderson’s seventh of the season with seven minutes left in the second.

In the third, Ray Bourque scored twice, one coming early in the final frame, and the final goal came with 89 seconds left to tie it at two. The score remained deadlocked for the remainder of the third period, as well as the first and second overtime periods.

Fast forward 15 minutes into the third overtime period, and the Oilers are on a three-on-two. Craig MacTavish passed it to Kurri, and after the zone entry, Kurri dropped it to Petr Klíma. His shot beat former Oiler Andy Moog.

What happened next

Game 2 wasn’t nearly as close, as the Oilers stomped the Bruins 7-2 with goals from Adam Graves, Simpson, Esa Tikkanen, Joe Murphy, and a hat trick from Kurri. The Bruins cut the series lead in half when they battled in Edmonton for Game 3. Edmonton fell 2-1, thanks to the fastest goal in Stanley Cup Finals history, as John Byce scored just 10 seconds in.

Still in Edmonton for Game 4, the Oilers defeated the Bruins 5-1, scoring the first four goals to take a 4-0 lead heading into the third period. John Carter scored with five minutes left in the game for the Bruins, but Simpson scored his 15th of the postseason with 84 seconds left for the win.

In the Oilers’ previous four Stanley Cup victories, all four of them saw the Oilers win on home ice. That wasn’t the case in 1990, as the Oilers defeated the Bruins 4-1, both in Game 5 and for the series.

Bill Ranford was named the Conn Smythe winner, and the Oilers lost in the Conference Finals the next two seasons. Thanks mainly to the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche, the Oilers didn’t make the Stanley Cup Finals until 2006.

You know how Game 1 went in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, as Dwayne Roloson was injured late in a 4-4 game, with the Carolina Hurricanes scoring with just 32 seconds left in the game. The Oilers also dropped Game 2, before splitting their home games, giving the Hurricanes a 3-1 series lead heading into Game 5. Edmonton was able to win that one thanks to Fernando Pisani’s overtime goal, the last time the Oilers went to overtime in the Stanley Cup Finals before Thursday’s game.

Returning to Rexall Place, the Oilers defeated the Hurricanes 4-0 to send the series back to North Carolina for Game 7, where the Hurricanes were able to win 3-1.

It took the Oilers a decade of darkness and insane luck to draft Connor McDavid, but they returned to the Stanley Cup Finals 18 years later. The Oilers didn’t win Game 1, or Game 2, or even Game 3, putting them in a 3-0 series hole. As you recall, the Oilers were able to win the next three games in dominant fashion to set up a winner-take-all Game 7, which they lost 2-1.

Hopefully, this year is different thanks to the Oilers’ Game 1 victory on Thursday.

This article first appeared on Oilersnation and was syndicated with permission.

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