Stanley Cup Playoffs : Efficient Oilers Finish Flames in 4 Games

The fans came to the Northlands Coliseum armed with brooms, and the Edmonton Oilers took the not-so-subtle hint.

Mark Messier and Craig Simpson each had a goal and two assists, and Grant Fuhr made 26 saves as the Oilers swept the regular-season champion Calgary Flames out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, 6-4, Monday night at Edmonton.

A crowd of 17,502 spurred the Oilers to the 4-games-to-none rout with chants of “Sweep, sweep.”

The defending Stanley Cup champion Oilers, who have won three of the last four Cups, will face the winner of the Norris Division final between the St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings for the Campbell Conference title.

Edmonton had only 17 shots on goal.

Messier opened the scoring at 9:27 of the first period, taking a feed from Esa Tikkanen after he stole the puck from goaltender Mike Vernon behind the net. Simpson scored at 15:32 of the first period, and Wayne Gretzky added his sixth goal of the playoffs to make it 3-0 at 4:31 of the second period.

Tikkanen gave Edmonton a 4-0 lead at 6:39 on a shot from the circle, and Rick Wamsley replaced Vernon.

Calgary rallied with goals by Craig Coxe and Dana Murzyn, but Dave Hannan restored Edmonton’s 3-goal lead at 14:24 of the second period. Joe Nieuwendyk poked a loose puck between Fuhr’s legs at 15:35 to cut Flames’ deficit to 5-3 after two periods.

Glenn Anderson scored for the Oilers in the final period, and John Tonelli gave the Flames a last-gasp goal at 16:09.

Detroit 3, St. Louis 1--Gerrard Gallant scored two goals, and Glen Hanlon made 27 saves as the Red Wings defeated the Blues at St. Louis to take a 3-games-to-1 lead in their Norris Division final series.

The Red Wings can win the series Wednesday night at Detroit.

Hanlon hadn’t started since suffering a groin injury in Game 6 of the opening series against Toronto.

With both teams a player short, Gallant drove a slap shot from the top of the left circle past goaltender Greg Millen for a 1-0 lead at 14:33 of the first period.

Petr Klima scored on a breakaway with 2:39 left in the period, and Gallant scored again at the 9:53 mark of the final period.

Tony McKegney scored for St. Louis with 20 seconds left in the second period.