December 26th, 1984
The holidays have always been a time of cheer, goodwill and giving. On Boxing Day 1984, all the Oilers gave to the Flames in the Battle of Alberta was a giant lump of coal. The bulk of the coal came from Paul Coffey and his four goals in a 6-5 win.
The four goals from #7 would be a team record for blueliners and only his 2nd NHL hat trick at the time. The 84-85 before this game saw Coffey’s output get off to a slow start after coming off a 40 goal season but he’d finish strong. With this game being the catalyst for a massive burst of production for him, he’d finish with 37 goals and the second of three straight years of 100 points or more.
December 28th, 1981
In the last edition of Time Travels I mentioned how the 1981-82 season stats wise was absolutely bonkers for the Oilers and especially Wayne Gretzky; before that season had even reached the halfway mark the numbers didn’t make any sense. In a 10-3 route of the Los Angeles Kings, Gretzky would have four goals and reach the 100 point mark in just 38 games.
Thirty-eight.
If The Oilers played 80 games against the Kings that season he’d have probably put up 200 points on them as at time he had scored 10 times on LA and the Oilers as a team had put 33 goals past a collection of La La Land goaltenders including current GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins Jim Rutherford in 81-82.
Who’d have guessed that this same Kings team that the Oilers made give them their lunch money for an entire regular season would knock them out of the playoffs just a few months later?
December 28th, 1982
In today’s NHL the league is made up of players from around the world but over 30 years ago, seeing Russian players in the league was only a pipe dream. For North Americans, opportunities to watch the Soviets play live came via only the Canada Cup, Olympics or the Super Series.
The Super Series was a tour that saw various teams from the Soviet Union come over and play exhibition games vs NHL and WHA teams from 1975 to 1990 with the most famous game coming when CSKA Moscow tied the Montreal Canadiens 3-3 on New Year’s Eve 1975.
On this day for the first time the USSR national team would play the NHL incarnation Oilers (they played before when the Oilers were still in the WHA) at Northlands Coliseum with the Oilers taking the game 3-2.
It may have only been an exhibition game but it was a glimpse at the future of hockey as much of the Oilers regular season roster suited up as well as Soviet stars and future Hall of Famers in the form of Igor Larionov, Slava Fetisov and Sergei Makarov.
Imagine the NHL if they had been able to come over to North America sooner? We can dream…
Next Week:
We’ll kick off 2017 by taking a look at the last time the Oilers won a game on New Year’s Eve, Gretzky’s 50 goals in 39 games and 1000 regular season wins as an NHL franchise.
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