Faces Are New, but Tradition Is the Same : Oilers: Edmonton has won three of four playoff series against the Kings since Gretzky was traded.

Mark Messier is in New York.

Grant Fuhr and Glenn Anderson are in Toronto.

Five other key players from the Edmonton Oilers’ glory days of the last decade--Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Charlie Huddy and Marty McSorley--are in Los Angeles, playing for the Kings.

And still the Oilers took the Kings out of the playoffs.

Their 3-0 victory Tuesday night at the Northlands Coliseum in Game 6 of a Smythe Division semifinal series enabled them to eliminate the Kings from the Stanley Cup chase for the third season in a row.

The Oilers have won five of seven playoff series against the Kings, three of four since they traded Gretzky to the Kings after the 1987-88 season, and 24 of 36 playoff games, 17 of 25 without Gretzky.

“The whole club has found out, you become what you think about yourself,” said Oiler owner Peter Pocklington, asked the secret to his team’s continued success. “If you believe that you’re winners--and that’s all you believe--eventually, when the crunch comes, it pays off.”

Pocklington, portrayed as a skinflint for trading off his star players, credited General Manager Glen Sather for developing a winning tradition among the Oilers, who have continued to prosper in Gretzky’s absence, winning a Stanley Cup in 1990 and seven of nine playoff series without him.

“Sather is a genius at putting together a club,” Pocklington said. “There’s no question that Sather is the best in the business. He’s put together a hell of a team.”

Pocklington called this his most gratifying season.

“Mainly because the press has characterized us as a cheap hockey team,” said Pocklington, who traded away Kurri, Fuhr, Huddy and Anderson in the last year. “In reality, we believe in talented young players who want to win. If Edmonton, or any other small community, wants to retain a National Hockey League team, we must treat it like a business.

“We can’t afford to pay $2 and $3 million to one player. We’ll let Los Angeles and the Rangers do that. They think that stardom maybe resides in one player. We believe that stardom resides in a team.”

Several Oilers played key roles against the Kings, but probably none got more enjoyment out of it than Bernie Nicholls.

“It’s a great thrill for me,” said Nicholls, traded to the Rangers two years ago before being moved to the Oilers this season. “Obviously, you want to win no matter who you’re playing against, but I think any time a guy gets traded from a team and he has an opportunity to come back and haunt that team, there’s no greater feeling.”

By scoring four goals and adding eight assists in six games against the Kings, Nicholls probably hastened the departure of King Coach Tom Webster, whose job is said to be in jeopardy.

Webster was said to have suggested trading Nicholls.

“I guess he had a little bit to do with me getting traded, and I guess I’ll have a little bit to do with him getting fired,” Nicholls said with a smile. “So, I guess we’re even.”

Maybe so, but the Oilers are still ahead of the Kings.

“The Oilers play their best hockey in the playoffs,” said Nicholls, who played for the only two King teams that advanced past the Oilers. “Even in the last month of the season, everybody is thinking about the playoffs.”

Oiler Coach Ted Green gave high marks to several Kings in at least one department, suggesting they might have missed their calling.

“It’s a good thing some of those guys didn’t go the Olympics or (Greg) Louganis wouldn’t have won the gold medal. . . . Those guys take more dives than he does,” Green told the Edmonton Sun before Game 6, naming Tony Granato, Marty McSorley and Jay Miller as the primary targets of his comments.

“You think the referees would stop calling penalties when these guys continue to take dives. They should be giving them two minutes (in the penalty box) for delay of game.”