Edmonton Kicks Away Stanley Cup : Calgary’s Winning Goal Is a Fluke, but Victory in 7-Game Series Isn’t

The winning goal came on a fluke, but the Calgary Flames put an end to Edmonton’s dreams of a third consecutive Stanley Cup with a well-deserved, 3-2 victory Wednesday night at Edmonton.

Oiler rookie defenseman Steve Smith was the goat. His clearing pass five minutes into the final period struck the skate of his own goaltender, Grant Fuhr, and caromed into the net to break a 2-2 tie. The goal was credited to Calgary’s Perry Berezan, but he wasn’t within 10 feet of the puck.

Except for the last 10 minutes of the second period, when the Oilers played the way they did as the dominate force in the NHL for the last three seasons, the Flames outhustled and outplayed them.

In a seven-game series with no apparent home-ice advantage, the Flames won three of their four games at Edmonton. In each of the three wins, rookie goalie Mike Vernon was spectacular. In this game he stopped 22 shots as he was given solid support by his hard-checking teammates.

The Flames, winning the series, 4-3, despite losing two games at home, will play the St. Louis Blues in another best-of-seven series, starting Friday at Calgary. The winner will play the winner of the other semifinal series between Montreal and the New York Rangers in the championship round.

A short-handed goal by Hakan Loob late in the first period put the Flames on the board, and they increased the lead to 2-0 when Jim Peplinski scored early in the second period.

The Flames, playing a hard-hitting game, completely dominated play through the first period. The Oilers even appeared confused and rattled on their two power-play opportunities. After 30 minutes, they had only eight shots on goal.

It was at this point that the irrepressible Wayne Gretzky put some life into the Oilers. He made a brilliant play on a 2-and-1 break to give linemate Glenn Anderson a shot into an open net. Gretzky skated in close, forced goalie Vernon to commit himself and, at the last possible second, slipped the puck to Anderson. The diving Vernon got back too late.

The rest of the period, the Oilers completely dominated play. Most of the time the puck was in the Flames’ end. Finally, with time running out in the period, Jari Kurri sent Mark Messier in on a breakaway, and the score was tied.

It appeared that the Oilers had taken control. The Flames seemed tired. However, in the final period it was the Oilers who were listless and the Flames who wanted the victory.

Gretzky’s assist gave him 175 playoff points in 80 games. He is still one point behind Jean Beliveau, the former Montreal star and will have to wait until next year to take over that record.

In one of the strangest playoffs in years in the NHL, the teams with the four best regular-season records--Edmonton, Washington, Philadelphia and Quebec--have already been eliminated.

St. Louis 2, Toronto 1--There are some people who think that Jacques Demers of the Blues is the best coach in the league right now, and he has, indeed, put the Blues into the semifinal round for the first time since 1972.

Kevin LaVallee, benched in the previous two games for poor play, took a perfect pass from Bernie Federko and scored at 7:34 of the third period to give the Blues a 4-3 series victory over the surprising Maple Leafs.

The Maple Leafs entered the playoffs with the worst record among the 16 teams that qualified for postseason play. They won only 25 of 80 games and had only 57 points.

But they shocked Chicago, the Norris Division champion, sweeping three in a row. When they rallied with three goals in the third period Monday night to beat the Blues, they had done much more than expected.

The Blues scored first, Eddy Beers beating Ken Wregget on a power play. The Maple Leafs tied it on a fluke early in the second period when Brad Smith converted a bank shot off the back of goalie Greg Mullen to make it 1-1.

Then, in the final period, Federko, the Blues’ best playmaker, had the puck behind the net. He put a pass right on LaVallee’s stick, and LaVallee made the biggest goal of his career.