COMMENTARY : Oilers’ Stanley Cup Victory Proves One Thing--Speed Kills

Hockey being hockey, the numbers weren’t as overwhelming as they were in say, Nevada-Las Vegas’ 103-73 demolition of Duke in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball championship, or the San Francisco 49ers’ 55-10 humiliation of the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl. But make no mistake, the Edmonton Oilers’ dominance was just as awesome. They may have been sharing the same ice as the Boston Bruins but they were playing a vastly different game.

It was strange to see the Bruins’ superstars rendered so average, so ordinary. Against the Hartford Whalers, the Montreal Canadiens, the Washington Capitals, a human hurricane like Cam Neely would come crashing into the slot and wreak havoc. In this series, the Oilers swept him aside as a windshield wiper does a raindrop.

Against most National Hockey League teams, Ray Bourque confidently steps up and smothers the play. Against the winged feet of the Oilers, even Bourque looked unsafe at any speed. He backpedaled and held his ground. Sometimes, it gave way anyway.

Would whoever wore Craig Janney’s uniform in this series please return it to its rightful owner? Seeing as how Janney sliced and diced three consecutive playoff opponents, it was amusing how easily the Oilers neutralized him in Game 1. For Janney, that was as good as it got. For the rest of the series, he was vaporized.

Weren’t they all? The pesky Bruins, owners of the NHL’s best regular-season record, annoyed nobody but themselves in this series. They stomped through three playoff rounds because nobody could dim their stars, because nobody could match their relentlessness, because nobody could skate better than they.

Then they ran up against an Oilers team that did everything better and faster, even though these Oilers no longer had Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey, or, in this series, injured goalie Grant Fuhr.

What they have is their fifth Stanley Cup in seven seasons. They have it because although some of their most famous faces are gone, the essence of Oilers success remains the same, plain for all to see: Speed kills.

To the Oilers’ and first-year Coach Mike Milbury’s credit, the Bruins are no longer beat-you-up bullies. They skate as well or better than most NHL teams.

But nobody confuses the Oilers with most NHL teams, certainly not the 14,448 befuddled Bruins partisans who were rendered silent watching the Oilers take apart their beloved B’s in Thursday night’s Game 5 Cup-clincher, 4-1. (Story, C1.)

The first period was scoreless. Then came the deluge. After the Oilers finally eased up with a 4-0 lead, Lyndon Byers scored with three minutes, 30 seconds left to avert a shutout.

With their superior speed and puck-handling (the Oilers stickhandle with one hand better than many teams do with two) the Oilers looked as if they were on the power play even when they weren’t. As for the Bruins’ offensive thrusts, they were brief and none too threatening. One shot, rarely a good one, and then the Oilers defense moved them harmlessly out of the way, sort of the way the offensive line of Lombardi’s Packers used to mow down a defense with their famed Green Bay sweep. Ride ‘em out of the play and take the puck away, that’s what the Oilers did all game, all series.

And on the offensive end, they didn’t need to rely on wrestling for position in front of the net. They’d just come busting across the blue line and shred the Bruins with their speed and one-on-one moves. The Oilers and the game’s first score came on a brilliant blue-line burst by Glenn Anderson in which Anderson’s speed overwhelmed the Bruins’ defense much the same way Michael Jordan gathers himself at the free-throw line and floats through the defense.

The Bruins managed only eight goals in five games. Never scored more than two in a game. The Oilers’ defense didn’t give the Bruins many good chances, and those they did give them were usually smothered by Fuhr’s replacement, Bill Ranford. Ranford, a former Maine Mariner, used to be Bruins property. Because of him, more than anyone else, the Stanley Cup is again Oilers property.

“We weren’t able to solve him,” Milbury said. “No matter what we threw at him.”

It’s a familiar story at this time of year around these parts. The Bruins were very good but not good enough. Since winning the Cup in 1972 with Orr and Esposito, they’ve lost the last five Stanley Cup finals they’ve been in.

The Oilers have won the last five Stanley Cup finals they’ve been in. And only one of them--their 1987 Cup win over the Flyers--went more than five games. The Oilers don’t mess around.

Don’t compare them to the Bruins.

Compare them to the Oakland A’s.