1990 Stanley Cup Finals

Boston defeated the Hartford Whalers 4–3, the Montreal Canadiens 4–1 and the Washington Capitals 4–0 to advance to the Final.

Edmonton defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4–3, the Los Angeles Kings 4–0 and the Chicago Blackhawks 4–2.

In game one, Petr Klima scored at 15:13 of the third overtime period to give the Oilers a 3–2 win; this game remains the longest in Stanley Cup Finals history (see Longest NHL overtime games), edging both Brett Hull's Cup-winner in 1999 and Igor Larionov's game-winner in 2002 by less than 30 seconds.

Though the Oilers ultimately won the series in five games, it was the Bruins who dominated play during the early part of the series. The Bruins had more chances to win the opener, and at one point had a 15-4 shot advantage in game two before the Oilers came back.^[1]

In game five at the Boston Garden on May 24, the Oilers won 4–1, the first time they had ever clinched the Cup on the road. Edmonton won all three Finals games played at Boston Garden - in each their previous Finals wins, the Oilers only won one game away from Northlands Coliseum. Craig Simpson scored the game-winning goal. Oilers goaltender Bill Ranford, originally the backup who took over from Grant Fuhr for the remainder of the regular season and the entire playoffs, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Mark Messier won his first Stanley Cup as a team captain, and his fifth overall.^[2] He won his sixth Stanley Cup as the captain with the New York Rangers four years later, and scored the Cup-winning goal, making him the only player to captain two different Cup-winning teams.^[3][4]

Ray Bourque did not reach the Stanley Cup Finals again until the Colorado Avalanche won in 2001. As for the Bruins, they would not return to the Stanley Cup Finals until their championship season of 2011.^[5] The Oilers did not reach the Finals again until 2006, losing in seven games.

Years indicated in boldface under the "Finals appearance" column signify that the player won the Stanley Cup in the given year.

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
43		Bob Beers	D	R	1985	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	first
77		Ray Bourque – C	D	L	1979	Saint-Laurent, Quebec	second (1988)
25		Andy Brickley	LW	L	1988–89	Melrose, Massachusetts	first
12		Randy Burridge	LW	L	1985	Fort Erie, Ontario	second (1988)
42		John Byce	C	L	1985	Madison, Wisconsin	first
34		Lyndon Byers	RW	R	1982	Nipawin, Saskatchewan	second (1988)
11		Bobby Carpenter	C	L	1988–89	Beverly, Massachusetts	first
31		John Carter	LW	L	1985–86	Winchester, Massachusetts	first
27		Dave Christian	RW	R	1989–90	Warroad, Minnesota	first
37		Lou Crawford	LW	L	1989–90	Belleville, Ontario	first
16		Peter Douris	RW	R	1989–90	Toronto, Ontario	first
28		Garry Galley	D	L	1988–89	Greenfield Park, Quebec	first
18		Bobby Gould	RW	R	1989–90	Petrolia, Ontario	first
38		Greg Hawgood	D	L	1986	Edmonton, Alberta	second (1988)
23		Craig Janney – A	C	L	1986	Hartford, Connecticut	second (1988)
39		Greg Johnston	RW	R	1983	Barrie, Ontario	second (1988)
6		Gord Kluzak	D	L	1982	Climax, Saskatchewan	second (1988)
1		Rejean Lemelin	G	L	1987–88	Quebec City, Quebec	third (1986, 1988)
17		Nevin Markwart	LW	L	1983	Toronto, Ontario	second (1988)
35		Andy Moog	G	L	1987–88	Penticton, British Columbia	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
8		Cam Neely – A	RW	R	1986–87	Comox, British Columbia	second (1988)
10		Billy O'Dwyer	C	L	1987–88	Boston, Massachusetts	second (1988)
41		Allen Pedersen	D	L	1983	Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta	second (1988)
19		Dave Poulin	C	L	1989–90	Timmins, Ontario	third (1985, 1987)
36		Brian Propp	LW	L	1989–90	Lanigan, Saskatchewan	fourth (1980, 1985, 1987)
20		Bob Sweeney	C	R	1982	Concord, Massachusetts	second (1988)
32		Don Sweeney	D	L	1984	St. Stephen, New Brunswick	first
26		Glen Wesley	D	L	1987	Red Deer, Alberta	second (1988)
30		Jim Wiemer	D	L	1989–90	Sudbury, Ontario	first

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
9		Glenn Anderson	RW	L	1979	Vancouver, British Columbia	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
6		Jeff Beukeboom	D	R	1983	Ajax, Ontario	third (1987, 1988, did not play)
32		Dave Brown	RW	R	1988–89	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	third (1985, 1987, did not play)
16		Kelly Buchberger	RW	L	1985	Langenburg, Saskatchewan	second (1987)
31		Grant Fuhr	G	R	1981	Spruce Grove, Alberta	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, did not play: injured)
20		Martin Gelinas	LW	L	1988–89	Shawinigan, Quebec	first
12		Adam Graves	LW	L	1989–90	Toronto, Ontario	first
21		Randy Gregg	D	L	1981–82	Edmonton, Alberta	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
22		Charlie Huddy	D	L	1980–81	Oshawa, Ontario	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
85		Petr Klima	LW	R	1989–90	Chomutov, Czechoslovakia	first
17		Jari Kurri – A	RW	R	1980	Helsinki, Finland	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
7		Mark Lamb	C	L	1987–88	Ponteix, Saskatchewan	first
4		Kevin Lowe – A	D	L	1979	Lachute, Quebec	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
14		Craig MacTavish	C	L	1985–86	London, Ontario	third (1987, 1988)
11		Mark Messier – C	C	L	1979	Edmonton, Alberta	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
28		Craig Muni	D	L	1986–87	Toronto, Ontario	third (1987, 1988)
30		Bill Ranford	G	L	1987–88	Brandon, Manitoba	second (1988)
33		Pokey Reddick	G	L	1989–90	Halifax, Nova Scotia	first (did not play)
26		Reijo Ruotsalainen	D	R	1989–90	Oulu, Finland	second (1987)
25		Geoff Smith	D	L	1987	Edmonton, Alberta	first (did not play)
5		Steve Smith	D	L	1981	Glasgow, United Kingdom	third (1987, 1988)
10		Esa Tikkanen	LW	L	1983	Helsinki, Finland	fourth (1985, 1987, 1988)
18		Craig Simpson	LW	R	1987–88	London, Ontario	second (1988)
8		Joe Murphy	RW	L	1989–90	London, Ontario	first

The 1990 Stanley Cup was presented to Oilers captain Mark Messier by NHL President John Ziegler following the Oilers 4–1 win over the Bruins in game five.

The following Oilers players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1989–90 Edmonton Oilers

• Garnet "Ace" Bailey won seven Stanley Cups. His name was engraved on the Stanley Cup five times. He was engraved as Garnet Bailey in 1972, G. Bailey in 1970, 1985, 1987, and Ace Bailey in 1990. His name was left off the Stanley Cup, but he was awarded Stanley Cup rings in 1984, 1988.
• #29 Vladimir Ruzicka (C/LW) joined Edmonton from Europe in January. Ruzicka played 25 games, but did not dress in the playoffs.
• #19 Anatoli Semenov (RW) joined Edmonton from Europe in May. Semenov played two games in the Conference Final.

Neither player qualified for engravement on the Cup, but both players received Stanley Cup rings. Ruzicka was also included on the team winning picture.

• Grant Fuhr only played 21 games during the regular season due to injuries. Although he would miss the rest of the regular season and the entire playoffs, he qualified to be on the Cup by dressing for over 40 regular season games.

• Glenn Anderson, Grant Fuhr, Randy Gregg, Charlie Huddy, Jari Kurri, Kevin Lowe, Mark Messier (seven Players), Peter Pocklington, Glen Sather, John Mucker, Ted Green, Barry Fraser, Barry Stafford, Lyle Kulchisky (seven non-players)
• Nine non-players were part of all five championships, but not all engraved each year: Garnet 'Ace' Bailey, Ed Chadwick, Lorne Davis, Matti Vaisanen, Gordon Cameron, Bill Tuele, John Backwell, Werner Baum, and Bob Freedman

• Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe, and Mark Messier.

In Canada, the series was televised on the CBC.

In the United States, the series aired nationally on SportsChannel America. However, SportsChannel America's national coverage was blacked out in the Boston area due to the local rights to Bruins games in that TV market. NESN televised games one, two, and five in the Boston area while WSBK had games three and four.

• 1989–90 NHL season
• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1989–90 Boston Bruins season
• 1989–90 Edmonton Oilers season

Inline citations

Bibliography

• Cole, Stephen (2004). The Best of Hockey Night in Canada. Toronto: McArthur & Company. pp. 120, 128. ISBN 1-55278-408-8.
• Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Bolton, Ont.: Fenn Pub. pp. 12, 50. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7.