Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Kings are making a run at 1988 Oilers playoff record

Wayne Gretzky, 1988 Edmonton Oilers

Coming out as the eighth seed in the West, no one expected much from the Los Angeles Kings. Seeing them up 2-0 in the Stanley Cup finals is remarkable on its own, but how does this team shape up compared to other teams from the past? They could wind up matching the record of one of the playoffs’ all-time best.

The Kings are 14-2 in the playoffs and two wins away from winning the Cup. Michael Grange of Sportsnet points out they’ve got a chance to do something a team loaded with Hall-Of-Famers has only done before.

Two more wins on home ice and the Kings are not only the first No. 8 seed to become Stanley Cup champions, while breaking a 44-year Cup drought (yes, only the Toronto Maple Leafs is longer), but they would also finish the tournament at 16-2.

Since the NHL expanded the playoffs to a best-of-seven format for all four rounds in 1987 only the iconic 1988 Edmonton Oilers, who won their fourth Stanley Cup while rolling up a 16-2 post-season record have been that good in the Spring. Only two teams have been 16-4.

Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown, and Jonathan Quick being on the same level as a team that iced Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, and Grant Fuhr? Incredible. To put things in context like this helps us realize just what sort of run these Kings are on.