Gretzky's Tough Lesson

Colin Fleming reviews the star-studded 1981-82 Edmonton Oilers' upset at the hands of the L.A. Kings in the first round of the playoffs:

Natural order, at least, seemed to be restored when the series, tied up at 1-1, transitioned to The Forum, in LA, on Manchester Boulevard, on April 10. The Oilers held a 5-0 lead at the start of the third period, having flummoxed the Kings with their puck artistry. In the video, you can see Oilers coach/mastermind Glen Sather cracking up on the bench, and Gretzky's men are talking trash after every whistle. Teams, of course, do not blow 5-0 third period leads. The worst team does not blow a single 5-0 lead in an entire season. Many franchises have never blown a 5-0 lead in their history. You almost have to try to blow a 5-0 lead, if you're going to do it. So when the Kings get on the board, three minutes into the final frame—which produces little excitement in the Forum—you think, well, at least they weren't shut out. Moral victory. But less than three minutes later, they get another one, and Sather stops smiling. A fluke goal brings the Kings within two, and it is at this point that the crowd starts going crazy, and I start to think, around three in the morning, that there is no way this comeback can possibly be completed, despite what the official record says. It's too damn unlikely.
With less than five minutes to go, the Kings pull within one score, but it appears they will come no closer. The trees have halted their march upon the castle. Only ten seconds remain. But then it's miracle time. A mad scramble ensues in front of Oilers' goalie Grant Fuhr. The puck ricochets this way and that and somehow squirts through Fuhr, and there it is, flashing on the scoreboard: 5-5. We head to overtime, where Kings' rookie Daryl Evans ends it, and initiates what has to be the coolest celebration in NHL history, as he slides towards the Kings' end, his teammates piled atop him.
The '81-'82 Oilers would not recover. Not fully, anyway. They won game four to force a game five back in Edmonton. Both teams flew out on the same plane, adding another bizarre element to this oddity of a series. But the cocky Oilers were leaden on home ice, apparently terrified of whatever mojo the purple-clad Kings had going, and LA prevailed. It's an ignominious end to the greatest season a North American athlete had ever had. The next year, the Oilers would go further, advancing to the Cup finals, where they'd lose to the Islanders, before breaking through in '83'-84 and commencing their dynasty proper, one which would see them win five championships in seven years. Gretzky, in particular, played like he had a hellhound on his trail for the rest of the decade, and you get the sense that the ghost of that lowly Kings team was hovering just off-stage, the most unlikely of motivators, though the Oilers probably weren't especially keen to thank them.

I loved the Oilers back in those days, even though we didn't have cable, so I never got to watch a hockey game.  I was so excited they finally won in '83-'84.  I remember whey they lost to Calgary when, was it Steve Smith accidentally scored an own goal to lose.