Oilers vs. Jets—The Last WHA Championship

Since the team skated for the first time in 1972, the Alberta/Edmonton Oilers gained a reputation of folding when the team needed wins the most. Although the Oilers were one of the most stable and well supported franchises in the World Hockey Association (WHA), their play on the ice was less consistent.  By 1979, Edmonton hockey fans still had not seen their team win a playoff round.

In 1973, the team’s first season, the Oilers played and lost a one-game playoff to the Minnesota Fighting Saints. In 1974, the Oilers lost a first round playoff series, again at the hands of the Saints. In 1976, the Winnipeg Jets swept the Oilers in the first round. In 1977, the Oilers made the playoffs only to lose handily by the Houston Aeros. Finally, in 1978, a first-round playoff defeat came via the New England Whalers. In that span of playoff futility, the Oilers won only three post-season games.

In the 1978-79 season, the Oilers were looking to change their fortunes in the first round when they signed 18-year-old sensation Wayne Gretzky.  In his debut pro-season with the Indianapolis Racers and Oilers, Gretzky registered 110 points.  Hopes were high for Gretzky to score more in the post-season.

The playoffs had a bittersweet air to them; the league had already announced that it would cease operations at the end of the Avco World Trophy Championship finals. In March, the National Hockey League announced that it would accept four WHA teams—the Oilers, Whalers, Jets and Quebec Nordiques.

For Oilers fans, the playoffs would mean a farewell to the WHA, and a chance to look forward to NHL hockey next season. The Oilers faced the Whalers in the first round of the playoffs, and after winning the first two games by convincing 6-2 and 9-5 scores, the Oilers looked to have broken their playoff jinx. The playoff series turned in the next few games, as the Whalers, who were led by goaltender John Garrett, gained series momentum, and eventually forced a seventh and deciding game.

In Game 7, the Oilers beat the Whalers 6-3, setting up an Avco final showdown with the defending WHA champion Winnipeg Jets. The Jets had lost Swedish stars Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson to the New York Rangers, but in their place, the defending WHA champs had a new set of European stars in Kent Nilsson and Willy Lindstrom. Another key player for the Jets was Morris Lukowich who had potted 65 goals in the regular season. The Edmonton Oilers were playing a tough and experienced team.

Gretzky and the Oilers had home-ice advantage, but the Jets showed their championship savvy by shocking the Oilers in the first two games in Edmonton. The Oilers recovered by game three in Winnipeg, and won by an 8-3 score. In game four, the Jets took a decisive lead in the series by winning the first game at home. By game five, the Oilers faced the prospect of the Jets winning the Avco World Trophy at Northlands Coliseum. They responded with their best effort in franchise history, throttling the Jets 10-2, and reviving the city’s hopes for a WHA championship. In game six, the Jets responded by jumping out to an early lead and never looking back. With the score 7-2 late in the third period, Oilers’ enforcer Dave Semenko earned some small consolation with a goal against Jets’ netminder Gary Smith. That made the final score 7-3 against, but Semenko’s marker would be the last-ever goal in WHA history.

Gretzky led the playoff-scoring race with 20 points in 13 games, but the Oilers could not stop Lindstrom (ten playoff goals), Lukowich (eight playoff goals), Rich Preston (another eight goals) or Nilsson (eleven assists).

It would be the last time the Jets would defeat the Oilers in any series of consequence. In the NHL, The Jets would meet the Oilers six times in the playoffs before leaving Winnipeg for Phoenix. The Oilers would win all six times.

Lindstrom and Nilsson would both play further roles in Oilers’ history. Lindstrom won two Stanley Cups as a member of the Oilers in 1984 and 1985, and Nilsson won a Cup with Edmonton in 1987.

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