Kings Can Consult History Book, Not Webster : NHL playoffs: Canucks went all the way to Stanley Cup finals without Neale in 1982.

It is not unprecedented for an NHL team to open the Stanley Cup playoffs without its coach. The Kings did Thursday night at the Forum, playing the Vancouver Canucks without Tom Webster, who is suspended.

The Canucks did it in 1982. They never reinstated Coach Harry Neale, even after he was eligible to return from his league-imposed suspension, and reached the Stanley Cup finals despite a regular-season record of 30-33-17.

Although swept by the dynastic New York Islanders in the championship series, Vancouver is still the only team with a sub-.500 regular season record to reach the Stanley Cup finals since 1968.

“So, tell Tom Webster it’s a good omen,” Neale said Thursday from Montreal, where he is working as a television commentator during the playoff series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres.

Webster was suspended last week for four games, including the first two games of the playoffs, after he fought with center Doug Gilmour of the Calgary Flames during a game at the Forum on March 23.

Still eligible to run practices and oversee meetings, Webster is not allowed to perform any function for the team during games.

He was only a well-paid observer as assistants Cap Raeder and Rick Wilson coached the team in their playoff opener, a 6-5 loss to the Canucks.

The timing of Neale’s suspension nine years ago was similar.

Neale, approaching the end of his fourth season with the Canucks, drew a 10-game ban after going into the crowd to punch a heckler during a game against the Quebec Nordiques at Quebec City on March 20, 1982.

While Neale was in the press box, with associate coach Roger Neilson behind the bench, the Canucks ended the regular season with four victories and a tie, stretching their season-ending unbeaten streak to nine games; swept a best-of-three opening-round playoff series from the Flames, and beat the Kings in the opening game of the Smythe Division finals.

Finally, in their second game against the Kings, they lost.

Neale was eligible to return at that point, but the Canucks played so well without him that he decided against it. Neilson, he said, was being groomed to replace him the next season, anyway, with Neale in line to replace retiring Jake Milford as general manager.

“I thought, ‘Why monkey around with something that was working as well as it was?’ ” Neale said. “So, I just backed off, and he coached for the rest of the playoffs. I couldn’t have possibly done it had I not known what we’d planned a whole year ahead. I’d have had to come back.

“It had been my job long before it was ever Roger’s.”

Led by goaltender Richard Brodeur, who came to be known as King Richard while playing in all 17 playoff games that year and compiling a 2.70 goals-against average, the Canucks won their next three games to dispose of the disappointed Kings, who were coming off their emotional “Miracle on Manchester” opening-round upset of the Edmonton Oilers.

In the Campbell Conference finals, the Canucks again required only five games to knock off the Chicago Blackhawks.

Miraculously, they reached the championship series--with Neilson in charge.

“It was a little frustrating,” said Neale, who basically traded jobs with Neilson after returning from his suspension, “but we were all enjoying the success that we were having, going all the way to the final. (Stepping aside) was a pretty easy thing to do and the smart thing to do.

“It never got to be a decision that tormented me or one that I couldn’t live with. It was almost as obvious as any decision could have been. But it could have been dicey if we hadn’t had a master plan we were following.”

In the finals, the Canucks’ run was finally ended by the Islanders, whose championship was their third of four in a row.

“Roger keeps telling me that we never would have made it to the finals if this thing hadn’t happened,” Neale said. “I tell him, ‘That could be true, but if I’d been coaching, we would have won when we got to the finals.’

“It was a strange happening. But I think our team rallied around it. And I think this could happen to L.A. It’s a little bit of adversity that they don’t need, and they probably don’t think Tom deserved to be suspended for four games. So, it might serve as a rallying point.”