1990 Stanley Cup Final

Paths to the Finals

Boston defeated the Hartford Whalers 4–3, the Montreal Canadiens 4–1 and the Washington Capitals 4–0 to advance to the Final.

Edmonton defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4–3, the Los Angeles Kings 4–0 and the Chicago Blackhawks 4–2.

Game summaries

In Game 1, Petr Klima scored at 15:13 of the third overtime period to give the Oilers a 3–2 win; this game remains the longest in Stanley Cup Final history (see Longest NHL overtime games), edging both Brett Hull's Cup-winner in and Igor Larionov's game-winner in by less than 30 seconds.

Though the Oilers ultimately won the series in five games, it was the Bruins who dominated play during the early part of the series. The Bruins had more chances to win the opener, and at one point had a 15-4 shot advantage in game two before the Oilers came back.

In Game 5 at the Boston Garden on May 24, the Oilers won 4–1, the first time they had ever clinched the Cup on the road. Edmonton won all three Finals games played at Boston Garden - in each their previous Finals wins, the Oilers only won one game away from Northlands Coliseum. Craig Simpson scored the game-winning goal. Oilers goaltender Bill Ranford, originally the backup who took over from Grant Fuhr for the remainder of the regular season and the entire playoffs, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Game 5 was the last Stanley Cup Final game ever played at the Boston Garden.

Mark Messier won his first Stanley Cup as a team captain, and his fifth overall. He won his sixth Stanley Cup as the captain with the New York Rangers four years later, and scored the Cup-winning goal, making him the only player to captain two different Cup-winning teams.

Ray Bourque did not reach the Stanley Cup Final again until the Colorado Avalanche won in . As for the Bruins, they would not return to the Stanley Cup Final until their championship season of . The Oilers did not reach the Finals again until , losing in seven games.

Boston Bruins vs. Edmonton Oilers

|1-1-1 =Adam Graves (4) - 09:46 |1-1-2 =No scoring |1-2-1 =Glenn Anderson (7) - 13:00 |1-2-2 =No scoring |1-3-1 =No scoring |1-3-2 =03:43 - Ray Bourque (3) 18:31 - Ray Bourque (4) |1-4-1 =Petr Klima (5) - 15:13 |1-4-2 =No scoring |goalie1-1 =Bill Ranford 50 saves / 52 shots |goalie1-2 =Andy Moog 28 saves / 31 shots

|2-1-1 =Adam Graves (5) - 08:38 Jari Kurri (8) - pp - 10:53 |2-1-2 =19:07 - Ray Bourque (5) |2-2-1 =Jari Kurri (9) - 04:21 Craig Simpson (13) - 15:28 Esa Tikkanen (11) - 17:10 Joe Murphy (5) - 19:12 |2-2-2 =02:56 - pp - Greg Hawgood (1) |2-3-1 =Jari Kurri (10) - pp - 07:27 |2-3-2 =No scoring |goalie2-1 =Bill Ranford 25 saves / 27 shots |goalie2-2 =Andy Moog 1 save / 4 shots Rejean Lemelin 14 saves / 18 shots

|3-1-1 =No scoring |3-1-2 =John Byce (2) - 00:10 Greg Johnston (1) - 15:04 |3-2-1 =No scoring |3-2-2 =No scoring |3-3-1 =05:54 - pp - Esa Tikkanen (12) |3-3-2 =No scoring |goalie3-1 =Bill Ranford 20 saves / 22 shots |goalie3-2 =Andy Moog 28 saves / 29 shots

|4-1-1 =02:13 - pp - Glenn Anderson (8) 16:27 - Glenn Anderson (9) |4-1-2 =No scoring |4-2-1 =01:00 - Craig Simpson (14) 19:15 - Esa Tikkanen (13) |4-2-2 =No scoring |4-3-1 =18:36 - Craig Simpson (15) |4-3-2 =John Carter (6) - 15:02 |goalie4-1 =Bill Ranford 24 saves / 25 shots |goalie4-2 =Andy Moog 28 saves / 33 shots

|5-1-1 =No scoring |5-1-2 =No scoring |5-2-1 =Glenn Anderson (10) - 01:17 Craig Simpson (16) - 09:31 |5-2-2 =No scoring |5-3-1 =Steve Smith (5) - 06:09 Joe Murphy (6) - 14:53 |5-3-2 =16:30 - Lyndon Byers (1) |goalie5-1 =Bill Ranford 29 saves / 30 shots |goalie5-2 =Andy Moog 18 saves / 22 shots

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

Edmonton Oilers

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1990 Stanley Cup was presented to Oilers captain Mark Messier by NHL President John Ziegler following the Oilers 4–1 win over the Bruins in game five.

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

1989–90 Edmonton Oilers centres=*7 Mark Lamb

• 8 Joe Murphy
• 11 Mark Messier (Captain)
• 14 Craig MacTavish
• 10 Esa Tikkanen
• 12 Adam Graves
• 16 Kelly Buchberger
• 17 Jari Kurri (A)
• 18 Craig Simpson
• 20 Martin Gelinas
• 32 Dave Brown
• 85 Petr Klima
• 5 Steve Smith
• 6 Jeff Beukeboom
• 21 Randy Gregg
• 22 Charlie Huddy
• 25 Geoff Smith
• 26 Reijo Ruotsalainen
• 28 Craig Muni
• 31 Grant Fuhr
• 33 Pokey Reddick

|non-players=

• Peter Pocklington (Owner), Glen Sather (President/General Manager)
• John Muckler (Head Coach), Ted Green (Co-Coach)
• Bruce MacGregor (Asst. General Manager), Ron Low (Asst. Coach)
• Barry Fraser (Director of Player Personnel/Chief Scout), Bill Tuele (Director of Public Relations)
• Werner Baum (Controller), Dr. Gordon Cameron (Chief of Medical Staff), Dr. David Reid (Team Physician)
• Ken Lowe (Athletic Tainer-Therapist), Barrie Stafford (Trainer), Stuart Poirier (Massage Therapist)
• Lyle Kulchisky (Ass't Trainer), John Blackwell (Director of Hockey Operations, AHL)
• Garnet Bailey (Scout), Ed Chadwick (Scout), Lorne Davis (Scout)
• Harry Howell (Scout), Albert Reeves (Scout), Matti Vaisanen (Scout)|}}

Stanley Cup engravings

• Garnet "Ace" Bailey won seven Stanley Cups. His name was engraved on the Stanley Cup five times. He was engraved as Garnet Bailey in 1972, G. Bailey in 1970, 1985, 1987, and Ace Bailey in 1990. His name was left off the Stanley Cup, but he was awarded Stanley Cup rings in 1984, 1988.
• #29 Vladimir Ruzicka (C/LW) joined Edmonton from Europe in January. Ruzicka played 25 games, but did not dress in the playoffs.
• #19 Anatoli Semenov (RW) joined Edmonton from Europe in May. Semenov played two games in the Conference Final. Neither player qualified for engravement on the Cup, but both players received Stanley Cup rings. Ruzicka was also included on the team winning picture.
• Grant Fuhr only played 21 games during the regular season due to injuries. Although he would miss the rest of the regular season and the entire playoffs, he qualified to be on the Cup by dressing for over 40 regular season games.

Members of all five Edmonton Oilers championships

• Glenn Anderson, Grant Fuhr, Randy Gregg, Charlie Huddy, Jari Kurri, Kevin Lowe, Mark Messier (seven Players), Peter Pocklington, Glen Sather, John Mucker, Ted Green, Barry Fraser, Barry Stafford, Lyle Kulchisky (seven non-players)
• Nine non-players were part of all five championships, but not all engraved each year: Garnet 'Ace' Bailey, Ed Chadwick, Lorne Davis, Matti Vaisanen, Gordon Cameron, Bill Tuele, John Backwell, Werner Baum, and Bob Freedman

Members of all five Edmonton Oilers championships and New York Rangers championship (1994)

• Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe, and Mark Messier.

Broadcasting

In Canada, the series was televised on the CBC.

In the United States, the series aired nationally on SportsChannel America. However, SportsChannel America's national coverage was blacked out in the Boston area due to the local rights to Bruins games in that TV market. NESN televised games one, two, and five in the Boston area while WSBK had games three and four. Had the series been extended, game six would've aired on WSBK, while game 7 would've aired on NESN.

References

;Inline citations

;Bibliography

before = Calgary Flames 1989 | after = Pittsburgh Penguins 1991 | title = Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup champions | years = 1990|

References

1. Wee, K.P.. (October 2015). "The End of the Montreal Jinx: Boston's Short-Lived Glory in the Historic Bruins-Canadiens Rivalry, 1988-1994".
2. {{harvnb. Cole. 2004
3. Morrison, Scott. (2010). "Hockey Night in Canada: Best of the Best Ranking the Greatest Players of All Time". Key Porter Books.
4. {{harvnb. Cole. 2004
5. Ulman, Howard. (May 28, 2011). "Bruins reach Stanley Cup finals, top Lightning 1-0".