NHL Playoffs Roundup : Oilers, Flyers Win, Play Tuesday in Stanley Cup Final

Jari Kurri and Wayne Gretzky have put the Edmonton Oilers into the final round of the Stanley Cup competition for the second season in a row. This time, the defending champion Oilers will meet the Philadelphia Flyers in the best-of-seven series beginning Tuesday night at Philadelphia.

Both teams closed out the semifinal round in six games with decisive victories Thursday night. Kurri scored four goals, all on passes from Gretzky, to give the Oilers an 8-2 victory over the Chicago Black Hawks before a vociferous crowd at Chicago that showered the ice with debris.

The Flyers, playing at home, used a goal by Dave Poulin when his team was two players short, to catapult them to a 3-0 victory and the series, 4-2.

The Oilers, trounced in their other two playoff games at Chicago, took charge early and dominated throughout the sixth game. In the series, they scored a record 44 goals.

Kurri, who needs only one more goal in the championship series to equal Reggie Leach’s record of 19 goals, also broke a record with his fourth hat trick.

Bitterness had developed between the two teams and the Black Hawks had vowed to be tough in this one. But Kurri opened the scoring five minutes into the game and it started a string of six unanswered goals that took the fight out of the Hawks.

Goaltender Grant Fuhr shut out Chicago for 47 minutes before Al Secord ended his shutout bid.

Several records for a series were broken. Kurri had a record 12 goals in the six games, while Gretzky, with 14 assists, set another.

Mark Messier, named the Most Valuable Player in the final round last spring, had two goals in this game.

Philadelphia 3, Quebec 0--With goaltender Pelle Lindbergh recoring a shutout, rookie Rick Tocchet scored late in the first period for the only goal the Flyers needed, but it was Poulin’s goal that broke the spirit of the Nordiques.

Poulin, playing on a strained knee that kept him out of two playoff games, scored the backbreaker with teammates Joe Paterson and Brian Propp in the penalty box early in the second period.

He intercepted Mario Marios’ pass inside the Quebec blueline, skated in on goalie Mario Gosselin and beat him on the glove side.