These Oilers Are Great Ones, Too : Stanley Cup: Edmonton wins game, 4-1, and series, 4-1, from Boston for first championship since Gretzky trade two years ago. Goalie Ranford named MVP.

It was the trade that shocked a nation, angered a city and, supposedly, decimated a team.

Goodby Wayne Gretzky. Goodby Stanley Cup.

For two years, that’s all Edmonton Oiler owner Peter Pocklington has been hearing after dealing The Great One to the Kings.

But no more. Not after Thursday.

Gretzky may be in Los Angeles, but the Stanley Cup is back in Edmonton after the Oilers defeated the Boston Bruins Thursday night, 4-1, before a Boston Garden crowd of 14,448 to win the finals in five games.

Pocklington, champagne dripping from his forehead, beamed outside the Oiler locker room after his team won its fifth Stanley Cup in seven years.

Arguably the team of the last decade, the Oilers are alive and well in the new decade. There is life after Gretzky.

“I was as much disturbed as anybody in Edmonton over the trade,” Pocklington said. “Wayne Gretzky is not just a hockey player. He’s an icon.

“But to win in the ‘90s, you sometimes have to do something unpopular in the ‘80s. I did what I had to do. There is no doubt in my mind I did the right thing.”

This was a night of vindication:

--For Pocklington, who has been under siege in Edmonton for the past two seasons.

--For goalie Bill Ranford, who had never won a playoff game before this season and wound up winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the most valuable player in the finals. Ranford had a 16-6 record, tying the all-time mark for most playoff victories. In the five games of the finals, he allowed Boston a total of eight goals.

--For center Mark Messier, who was handed the mantle of leadership when Gretzky departed. He had a Gretzky-type regular season, and is the favorite to win the Hart Memorial Trophy, given to the season’s most valuable player. But Messier struggled through the first three games of the finals, getting only one assist. He came on strong in the final two games with four assists while centering a line that collected 16 points in the last two victories.

--For a defense that was often forgotten behind the fast-skating, wide-open offense that grabbed the headlines in Edmonton. But Kevin Lowe, Craig Muni, Charlie Huddy, Steve Smith and Randy Gregg cleared out the puck and shut down the Bruins in the Oiler zone game after game, allowing both Ranford and the offense to shine.

--For John Muckler in his first year as head coach. Muckler, who finally stepped out of the shadow of Glen Sather, proved he could make the right moves on his own at the championship level.

--And vindication for Sather, who left the bench and the coaching to Muckler and concentrated on doing the wheeling and dealing as general manager who rebuilt this club.

“This is probably the nicest of the five Stanley Cups,” Muckler said, “because coming out of training camp, we never expected to be here.”

Certainly not when they fell behind the Winnipeg Jets, three games-to-one, in the opening round of the playoffs.

Edmonton won three in a row to survive that series, swept the Kings in four and beat the Chicago Blackhawks in six.

The Oilers then won the opener of the finals in the Garden in triple overtime, 3-2, and also won Game 2 in Boston, 7-2.

After losing the third game back home, 2-1, Edmonton came up with its best playoff effort in Game 4, winning easily, 5-1.

Still, Game 5 was expected to be tough. The Bruins, owners of the league’s best regular-season record, didn’t figure to lose three in a row at home, surely not against a club that had stumbled so often here before in the regular season, going 2-13-2.

And sure enough, Boston came out aggressively Thursday night, smashing bodies into the boards and the puck into the Edmonton zone.

But when it became obvious the Bruins weren’t going to be able to handle Ranford any better than they had in the past, it became merely a matter of time.

The game was scoreless in the first period, but Glenn Anderson broke through at the 1:17 mark of the second after Bob Sweeney smashed the puck off him near the left boards at mid-ice.

Anderson controlled the puck, skated down the left side and into the slot, where he found defensemen Don Sweeney and Ray Bourque awaiting him.

Wisely avoiding Bourque, Boston’s defensive leader, Anderson, without breaking stride, skated past Sweeney and rammed the puck through the pads of goalie Andy Moog.

Boston never recovered.

Craig Simpson scored his league-high 16th playoff goal later in the period, and Smith and Joe Murphy added third-period goals.

Lyndon Byers accounted for the Bruins’ only goal late in the game.

Boston outshot Edmonton, 30-22, but it didn’t matter with Ranford on duty.

Messier, the Stanley Cup held high over his head in the locker room with champagne pouring out of it, also took a moment to look back.

“We all missed Wayne, he’s a good friend of ours,” he shouted above the roar of celebrating teammates. “This is for you, Wayne. We love you.”

STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS

MOST TITLES

Team: Titles

Montreal Canadiens: 22

Toronto Maple Leafs: 13

Detroit Red Wings: 7

Edmonton Oilers: 5

Boston Bruins: 5

Ottawa Senators: 4

New York Islanders: 4

RECENT WINNERS

Edmonton Oilers: 1989-90

Calgary Flames: 1988-89

Edmonton Oilers: 1987-88

Edmonton Oilers: 1986-87

Montreal Canadiens: 1985-86

Edmonton Oilers: 1984-85

Edmonton Oilers: 1983-84

New York Islanders: 1982-83

New York Islanders: 1981-82

New York Islanders: 1980-81

New York Islanders: 1979-80