On Thursday (May 23), the best-of-seven Western Conference championship in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin with the Dallas Stars hosting Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers for Game 1 at American Airlines Center.
This will be the ninth playoff series between these historic rivals, but the first in 21 years. Edmonton’s postseason history with the Stars goes back to the latter’s time in Bloomington, Minnesota, where they were known as the Minnesota North Stars. The Oilers and Stars’ rivalry exploded between 1997 and 2003, when they faced off in every postseason but one.
Over the course of playing each other in 42 playoff games over the years, the Oilers and Stars earned a reputation for their head-to-head battles. All told, the franchises have played 42 games against each other in the playoffs. Their postseason clashes earned a reputation of being must-watch, because every time fans thought they’d seen it all, the Stars and Oilers did something else.
So as the Oilers and Stars prepare to renew acquaintances, here’s a look back at the five wildest games from their previous playoff meetings.
1984 Campbell Conference Finals Game 3
Oilers 8, North Stars 5
On April 28, 1984, Edmonton took a 2-0 series lead into the Met Center for Game 3 of the conference final and took a 2-0 lead in the game, with Dave Lumley and Wayne Gretzky scoring for the Oilers less than two minutes apart in the first period.
The home team responded in the second period, erupting for five goals in a span of 8:27 to surge ahead by a score of 5-2. Neal Broten and Mark Napier each had two goals for the North Stars, who scored four times on the power play. Five goals in less than half a period was more than Minnesota had scored in the first seven periods of the series.
Edmonton got one back before the second intermission, with Paul Coffey scoring to pull the Oilers within two. Between periods, the Oilers must have looked at Minnesota’s five-goal explosion, and thought, ‘Anything they can do, we can do better’.
At 4:58 of the third period, Jari Kurri scored for the Oilers. At 6:06, Edmonton winger Glenn Anderson tied the game at 5-5. Fifty-nine seconds after that, Ken Linseman tallied to put the Oilers back in front. Then, during a North Stars power play, Edmonton scored twice, with Mark Messier and Gretzky tallying at 10:10 and 10:42, respectively. Gretzky’s second goal of the game came on a penalty shot. When the dust settled, the Oilers had scored five times in a span of 5:44.
That was it for the scoring. Edmonton won the game 8-5 and would sweep the series before going on to defeat the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Final to capture its first championship.
At the time, the scoring outbursts by Edmonton and Minnesota ranked second and eighth, respectively, for the fastest five goals by one team in a Stanley Cup Playoffs game. Today, those rankings are third and 11th fastest all-time. And it happened in consecutive periods.
1997 Western Conference Quarter-Finals Game 3
Oilers 4, Stars 3 (OT)
It had been 1,794 days since the last Stanley Cup Playoff game in Edmonton, when the Oilers took on the Stars in Game 3 of their Western Conference quarterfinal at Edmonton Coliseum on April 20, 1997.
Back in the postseason for the first time since 1992, the Oilers dropped the series opener before winning Game 2 at Reunion Arena, and now had a chance to take a 2-1 series lead in front of a rabid crowd starved for springtime hockey.
But the visitors killed the mood quickly, as Dallas scored less than five minutes into the game, then added goals late in the first period and midway through the second to lead 3-0.
It remained a 3-0 lead for Dallas until four minutes remained in the third period, when Doug Weight scored to spoil the shutout bid of Stars netminder Andy Moog. Then Dallas defenceman Sergei Zubov took an interference penalty, and Edmonton’s Andrei Kovalenko scored on the power play at 17:44. Twelve seconds after that, Oilers rookie Mike Grier tipped a one-timer from Dan McGillis past Moog. Three goals in less than two minutes. Suddenly the score was tied, and it was pure bedlam in the coliseum.
The game went to overtime, with both teams trading great chances until Oilers captain Kelly Buchberger beat his former teammate Moog 9:15 into sudden death, completing one of the greatest comeback wins in hockey history.
Edmonton would go on to win the series 4-3, with Oilers forward Todd Marchant scoring a magical goal in overtime of Game 7 at Reunion Arena.
1999 Western Conference Quarter-Finals Game 3
Stars 3, Oilers 2
The 1999 Stanley Cup Playoffs series between the Stars and Oilers is one of the all-time greatest mismatches based on regular season records. Dallas finished the 1998-99 NHL season with a league-best 114 points, a whopping 36 more than the Oilers, whose 78 points were the fewest of any team that qualified for the 1999 postseason.
But as far apart as these teams were in the standings, the first two games at Reunion Arena couldn’t have been much closer: both Games 1 and 2 were tied with less than 10 minutes remaining, but Dallas pulled out a one-goal victory each time.
Related: Oilers’ 1999 Series vs. Stars: The Closest Sweep in Team History
Back home at Skyreach Centre for Game 3 on April 25, the Oilers took a 1-0 lead on Ryan Smyth’s power-play goal at 15:25 of the first period. Marchant appeared to make it 2-0 when he scored in the final minute of the opening frame, but the goal was disallowed because the replay showed Ethan Moreau’s skate barely in the crease of Stars’ netminder Ed Belfour.
In the second period, Edmonton once again appeared to go ahead 2-0 only to have the goal waved off. This time it was Oilers winger Rem Murray whose goal was wiped out when referee Dave Jackson ruled that Pat Falloon interfered with Belfour. Falloon and Belfour had run into each other when the goalie came 25 feet out of the Dallas net to play the puck.
Edmonton finally got its second goal when Smyth scored 24 seconds into the third period, but not before Jackson called for a video review of the play. When the goal stood, the arena erupted. While Edmonton had dominated play and could have been ahead 4-0, the Oilers now had a two-goal lead with less than 20 minutes to play. They were in control, and all the momentum was on their side. It should have been enough. It wasn’t.
At 6:15 of the period, Mike Keane got the Stars on the board. Just over four minutes later, Mike Mondano tied the game up. And with 7:28 remaining, Nieuwendyk gave Dallas the lead. Three Stars goals in 6:17 turned a 2-0 advantage for the home team into a 3-2 lead for the visitors.
The life was sucked out of Skyreach Centre, and a shell-shocked Oilers team could barely muster a shot the rest of the game as Dallas held on to take a 3-0 series lead.
1999 Western Conference Quarter-Finals Game 4
Stars 3, Oilers 2 (3OT)
What could possibly follow that insanity of Game 3 in 1999? How about the longest game in either franchise’s history.
Smyth opened the scoring in Game 4 of the Western Conference Quarter-Final, giving Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 4:47 of the second period. Dallas got a goal from Nieuwendyk in the final minute of the period to make it 1-1 going to the second intermission.
The Oilers again went in front when Marchant put the puck behind Belfour at 6:33 of the third period, but Edmonton’s lead lasted less than four minutes before Jamie Langenbrunner scored the equalizer for Dallas. Before long, the teams were headed to overtime.
The first period of extra time solved nothing. The teams played another 20 minutes of sudden death and were still deadlocked. It was well after midnight in Edmonton when the puck dropped to begin a third period of sudden death.
Finally, with just a couple minutes remaining in triple overtime, Stars defenceman Sergei Zubov fired the puck through a crowd in front of the Edmonton net, where it deflected off Nieuwendyk’s leg and past Oilers goaltender Tommy Salo. Game over. Series over.
The scoreboard showed 17:34 of the period. The clock showed 1:03 a.m. The game started on April 27, and ended on April 28. The Stars and Oilers had played 117 minutes and 34 seconds, making it the third longest Stanley Cup Playoffs game of the 1990s. Dallas would ultimately go on to win its first Stanley Cup.
2001 Western Conference Quarter-Finals Game 3
Stars 3, Oilers 2 (OT)
Memories of four years earlier at the same arena in the same game came rushing back to Oilers fans on April 15, 2001, when the Oilers and Stars met at Skyreach Centre for Game 3 of their first round series.
The teams were even at one win apiece after Edmonton had beaten Dallas in Game 2 at Reunion Arena. But the momentum didn’t follow the Oilers back home: for almost 60 minutes of Game 3, they looked lethargic.
Dallas had dominated the game and was in control with just over a minute remaining in the third period, leading 2-0 with goals from Mike Modano and Zubov. But with Salo pulled for the extra attacker, Edmonton’s Georges Laraque stole the puck from a wandering Belfour and threw it out front to Smyth, who buried the puck into an open net with just 63 seconds remaining on only Edmonton’s 16th shot of the game. Now it was 2-1.
With Salo again pulled for a sixth skater, Edmonton got a faceoff in the Stars zone, and gained possession after the draw. As the seconds ticked away, Oilers blueliner Eric Brewer fired a shot from the blue line that Murray deflected past Belfour with just 6.4 seconds remaining. Tie game.
Edmonton came out for overtime with new energy. The teams went back and forth in sudden death, with great chances at both ends of the rink. But unfortunately for the Oilers and their fans, this contest wouldn’t end like Game 3 in 1997.
The Oilers and Stars looked to be headed for double OT, when the Stars got a late rush. Brett Hull put the puck on Salo and Benoit Hogue buried the rebound at 19:48 to give Dallas the overtime win and a 2-1 series lead.
Flash forward to 2024, and the Oilers are coming off a second round series with the Vancouver Canucks in which six of the seven games were decided by one goal, including four that saw the winning goal scored with less than six minutes remaining.
Suffice it to say, today’s Oilers know all about playoff drama. So chances aren’t bad that McDavid and company will be adding another game to this list before their series with Dallas ends.
