Amid the growing bribery scandel, the playoffs got underway with uncertainty in the background regarding who would be the next president of the league. But on the ice, the first round of the 1988 Stanley Cup Playoffs was uneventful and predictable. No series in the Campbell Conference went more than five games with the favored team winning each one. St. Louis swept the Chicago Blackhawks in four straight, Seattle defeated the young Calgary Wranglers in five, Vancouver took down Steve Yzerman and the Oilers in five, and the Houston ousted Colorado also in five games. In the Wales, Mario Lemieux’s post-season was once again short-lived, as the Leafs succumbed to the Quebec Nordiques in a sweep. Philadelphia also stunned the Cincinnati Stingers in a sweep, the only real upset in the first round.
Not every series was so lopsided, however. In a rematch of 1987, Washington defeated the Islanders in six games with goaltender Vladislav Tretiak turning in an incredible performance in possibly his final season. Hartford and Detroit played a very close, hard-fought series with the Red Wings jumping to a 3-2 series lead. The Whalers then stormed back, winning game six 5-3. Grant Fuhr played brilliantly while Pat Verbeek scored twice in game seven as the Whalers took the series with a 7-2 victory.
Hartford advanced to face the Nordiques in the second round. Quebec put up a good fight, winning games two and five, but ultimately could not solve Fuhr as Hartford advanced in six games. Elsewhere in the Wales, the Washington Capitals faced the Philadelphia Flyers in a classic six-game series. Four of the six games went into overtime. Philly appeared to be on their way to a second upset after taking a 2-1 series lead, before Mark Messier and Jari Kurri put the Capitals on their backs, scoring ten goals between the two of them and carrying the team to an intense six game series victory.
In the Smythe Final, Pacific Northwest rivals Vancouver and Seattle found themselves locked in a 2-2 tie after the first four games. Seattle’s Paul Coffey had been injured in game one, but returned to score the overtime winner in game five to give the T-Birds a 3-2 series lead. Thanks to a hat-trick from Ron Francis, Vancouver won game six 4-3 to force a game seven in Seattle. Game seven proved to be a triple-overtime epic. Goaltenders Bill Ranford for Vancouver and Patrick Roy for Seattle turned away shot after shot as the game extended into the early morning hours. Finally, with two minutes left in the third OT, Thunderbirds veteran Guy LaFluer beat Ranford in a scramble in front of the net to end the game and the series in Seattle’s favor.
For the second time in the decade the Houston Aeros would face the St Louis Blues in a playoff series. Both teams had spilt the regular season series evenly. The Aeros’ chances of beating their increasingly bitter rivals looked very good when they found themselves ahead three games to two in what turned out to be an extremely physical series. Game six would be no different, as Houston had an opportunity to close out the series at home. After the Aeros opened the scoring in game six, St Louis went on to score four unanswered goals to send the series to a seventh and deciding game. As game six wound down, several fights broke out as tension between the two rivals finally boiled over. “We just wanted to play the right way and they insisted on mugging our guys every chance they got. It’s disappointing a team is allowed to play that way” said Houston coach Pat Burns. St Louis coach Jaques Demers was quick to respond; “If they were playing the ‘right’ way you’d think they would’ve won.” Game seven was close, tied 3-3 through two periods. Early in the third, Wayne Gretzky gave St Louis the lead with a scrappy goal in front of the net. Pelle Lindberg protested, along with Burns and the rest of the Aeros, claiming he was interfered with. Nevertheless, the goal stood and minutes later, Michal Goulet added another one to give St Louis a 5-3 win, sending them to the Campbell Conference finals. “I’m very disappointed” said Burns after game seven. “I guess this league just really didn’t want another Sun Belt team in the Finals. It amazes me that we get officiating like this at this level.” Demers once again responded; “I can’t believe that idiot has a friggin job.”
In the conference final round, the Washington Capitals would face the Hartford Whalers, while the St Louis Blues would face the Seattle Thunderbirds for the right to play for the Stanley Cup. The Capitals found themselves down 2-0 heading home as it appeared the Whalers were on their way back to the championship round. However, the Caps managed to win the next two at home including an overtime win in game four to tie the series. Hartford took the lead once again in game five and had an opportunity to end it in game six, but Messier would be the hero, scoring two goals in a 4-2 victory in game six to force seven. Jeff Brown was the hero in game seven, scoring in double overtime for Washington as the Capitals advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history. In the Wales, Seattle kept things close against St Louis, but they ran out of gas as the Blues won the series in six to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the fourth time in less than a decade.
As always, feel free to comment what your think and predictions for the Finals. We're set up for a good one! Gretzky vs Messier!
