Edmonton Oilers Heritage Website - 1998 The Avalanche Melts

By the time the Oilers arrived in the 1998 playoffs, the team had changed dramatically from the Cinderella team that upset Dallas in the 1997 postseason.

Jason Arnott, who had scored 33 goals in his 1993-94 rookie season, was traded to the New Jersey Devils for power forward Bill Guerin and Russian playmaker Valeri Zelepukin. Hard-nosed defender Dan McGillis was shipped to Philadelphia for highly-touted Finnish blueliner Janne Niinimaa. And Czech defender Roman Hamrlik, the first overall pick in the 1992 draft, was acquired from Tampa Bay.

Howerver, even with the changes, the Oilers were heavy underdogs as they prepared to meet

the Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs. The Avalanche had won the Cup two seasons ago, and featured a lineup of superstars that included All-Star snipers Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic, along with future Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy, former Oilers’ great Jari Kurri and slick-passing Latvian defender Sandis Ozolinsh. The Oilers, thanks to a slow start to the season, finished two games under the .500 mark and had scrambled in the spring to claim a playoff spot.

Still, Oilers fans clung to the hope that their team could show the same desire that led them to the great upset of Dallas the season before. After Game 1 and a 3-2 upset win at Denver’s McNichols Arena, the hope turned to belief.

Sakic would have none of this

Oilers’ optimism. The man who scored an astounding 18 goals during the Avs’ 1996 Cup-winning playoff run was determined to be Mr. Clutch once again. He scored the winning goals in the next two games, a 5-2 romp in Game 2 and then a laser wrist-shot that beat Oilers’ goalie Curtis Joseph in a wild 5-4 Game 3 overtime win in front of a raucous Skyreach Centre crowd. The Avalanche, inspired by Sakic’s heroics, won 3-1 in Game 4; coach Ron Low’s Oilers put forth their best effort of the playoffs, but a wafting shot from perennial playoff hero Claude Lemieux eluded net minder Curtis Joseph for the game-winning goal.