Stanley Cup Playoffs : Oilers Defeat Red Wings, 8-4, to Reach Finals Again

The Edmonton Oilers have returned to their familiar spring surroundings--the Stanley Cup finals.

The Oilers, getting two goals each from Craig Simpson and Mike Krushelnyski, reached the championship round for the fifth time in six years with an 8-4 victory over the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday night.

“Since the Winnipeg series (in the Smythe Division final), we’ve played well in key situations,” said Oiler captain Wayne Gretzky, who had a goal and two assists. “We’re on a roll and the team is playing with a tremendous amount of confidence and instinct. We’re all on the same wave length and we’re playing well together as five-man units.”

The win allowed the defending National Hockey League champion Oilers to win the Campbell Conference final, four games to one, and advance to the championship series against either Boston or New Jersey. The Bruins lead the best-of-seven Wales Conference final, 3-2, with Game 6 tonight at East Rutherford, N.J.

The only time in the last six years the Oilers have failed to reach the Cup finals was in 1986, when the Calgary Flames beat, Edmonton in the Smythe Division finals. Edmonton has won the Stanley Cup four times in the 1980s.

“I think Edmonton will win its fourth Stanley Cup,” Detroit Coach Jacques Demers predicted. “The way they’re playing right now, they’ll be hard to beat.”

Mark Messier, who struck for a goal and three assists Wednesday, was dominant throughout the game as he has been during the playoffs with 31 points in 14 games.

The Red Wings were eliminated at the same juncture last year by the Oilers, also in five games.

Simpson scored both his goals in the first period, when the Oilers took a 2-1 lead. Simpson assisted on a goal by Jari Kurri late in the second period, when the Oilers scored four times for a 6-2 lead and virtually put the game away.

The Red Wings got third-period goals from Adam Oates at 1:33 and Steve Yzerman at 4:13, but the flurry was too little, too late. Krushelnyski, who had a goal and an assist in the Oilers’ second-period burst, clinched it at 14:49.

Gretzky had a goal and two assists for the Oilers. Detroit pulled goalie Greg Stefan with 3:44 remaining, and Gretzky scored into an empty net with 52 seconds to go.