Oilers Put Bruins on Thin Ice With Victory in Game 4

Peter Pocklington has resurfaced.

“It’s been safe for me to walk the streets again,” said the Edmonton Oiler owner, who was driven underground by his unpopular trade of Wayne Gretzky to the Kings two years ago.

Pocklington may be only 60 minutes away from getting a parade down the streets of his town after his Oilers beat the Boston Bruins Tuesday night, 5-1, at the Northlands Coliseum to lead the best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals, three games to one.

Game 5 will be played Thursday night in Boston Garden.

The pressure will be on the Bruins, who have lost both previous games of this series at the Garden.

The pressure is off Mark Messier, who has been the subject of criticism and rumors the past few days after getting only one assist in the three previous games after a season many thought had earned him MVP honors.

His linemates had not been much better. Glenn Anderson had one goal, Craig Simpson a goal and an assist.

Was Messier hurt?

Was he tired?

Was he simply tired of battling the tough Boston defense?

Not Tuesday. Messier was back.

And so were his linemates.

They accounted for four of the five Edmonton goals. Anderson and Simpson had two goals and two assists each, and Messier added three assists.

“Our line had to start contributing,” Messier said. “I felt that tonight we would break through.”

At first, it appeared the only break the Messier line would get would be another bad one.

In the opening minutes of the game, Messier went to hit Boston’s Glen Wesley but, instead, collided with Anderson, knocking him to the ice.

For a moment, Anderson couldn’t get up.

“He knocked the wind out of me,” Anderson said. “If he really laid into me, I wouldn’t want to feel the end of that hit.”

Messier shrugged it off.

“It didn’t seem to bother Glenn,” he said.

Just the opposite.

Simpson’s two goals gave him 15, moving him past the Washington Capitals’ John Druce and giving him the postseason league lead.

Edmonton’s other goal came from Esa Tikkanen.

Meanwhile, the Bruins were firing blanks at Edmonton. Boston had 25 shots, but it didn’t mean anything with Bill Ranford in goal.

“The defense was playing strong in front of me, blocking the shots,” Ranford said. “Then, anytime there was a rebound, the defense was there to clear it away.”

Ranford had no doubt he would also be getting help from Messier.

“Whenever there is added pressure on him, he always comes out and plays an even better game,” Ranford said. “There was a lot of talk about him being hurt and he was disappointed with that. He felt that he had to come out and show something tonight.”

Ranford showed plenty as well. He gave up an unassisted goal to John Carter in the final period, long after the outcome appeared assured, but was perfect the rest of the evening, drawing cheers from the sellout crowd of 17,503.

He won’t hear too many good things from Boston. The Bruins think of Ranford more like Jason of “Halloween” movie fame, a haunting masked figure that just won’t go away.

It’s tough to face a hot goalie in a crucial series. It’s tougher still when that goalie once played for your team.

The Ranford-for-goalie Andy Moog trade of two years ago has been a crucial factor in this series.

Ranford has given up a total of seven goals in the four games.

Moog, although pulled in the second period of Game 2, has given up a dozen goals. He surrendered five on 33 shots Tuesday.

When the game had ended, Edmonton Coach John Muckler once again shot down the rumor that Messier has been playing injured.

“He doesn’t have an injury,” Muckler said. “You people (the media) created that and we went along with it, perhaps giving Boston some false hope.”

At this point in the series, that might be all the Bruins have.

NHL Notes

King defenseman Brian Benning got his long-delayed hearing with league officials Tuesday in Edmonton. Benning still faces disciplinary action for his high-sticking penalty against Jari Kurri in the King-Oiler record-setting brawl at the end of February. When Benning was subsequently hospitalized because of an appendectomy, the hearing was postponed. Should Benning be handed a suspension, as anticipated, it would begin with next season’s first game.

The Kings will play the Pittsburgh Penguins in an exhibition game in Miami this fall. The game was a sellout seven hours after ticket windows opened.