1988 Stanley Cup: The Unforgettable 'Lights Out' Game

[00:00:00] On May 24, 1988 was game four of the Stanley Cup Finals where the Edmonton Oylers were taking on the Boston Bruins in Boston when something very unusual happened.

[00:00:13] All the lights in the arena went dark and led to the game that was almost finished being called.

[00:00:20] What was behind this and what happened after will dive into today on Daily Sports History.

[00:00:27] Welcome to Daily Sports History, I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day.

[00:00:43] And today's trivia question to listen out for is who was the mobster who was thought to have a conspiracy to the blackout of the 1988 Stanley Cup Finals?

[00:00:54] So how did we get to the 1988 Stanley Cup Finals?

[00:00:59] Well on one side we had the Edmonton Oylers who had been around since 1972 and was currently going on a terror for the Stanley Cup, winning three of the last four Stanley Cups.

[00:01:11] And a big reason for this was they had someone who was making a name for themselves who would later be known as the Great One, Wayne Gretzky.

[00:01:20] Who in 1978 made his debut in the NHL with the Edmonton Oylers when they transitioned from the World Hockey Association to the NHL and took the team to new heights.

[00:01:32] And this season he led Edmonton in an assist and points, but they had two people finished ahead of him on the team in Craig Simpson and Jarri Curry leading the team with 43 goals.

[00:01:44] And they finished second in the Smythe Division behind the Calgary Flames with 44 wins totaling 99 points.

[00:01:52] And if you don't know the point system in the NHL, you get two points for a win, one for a tie and one for an overtime loss.

[00:02:00] And they used these points for the playoff seeding and they were the favorite all year long and they came up against the Boston Bruins that year who were second in the Adams Division also winning 44 games with 94 points.

[00:02:13] Led by Ray Baroque in points, in assist and Cam Neely in goals.

[00:02:19] And hadn't won a Stanley Cup since Bobby Orr was on the team in 1972.

[00:02:24] So the both teams made it easily to the playoffs and the Oylers cruised to the finals losing just two games in the process beating the Winnipeg Jets in five games and sweeping the Calgary Flames.

[00:02:36] To make it to their conference finals beating the Detroit Red Wings.

[00:02:40] But the Bruins had a little bit more of a challenge. They weren't as dominant of a team.

[00:02:44] So it took them six games to beat the Buffalo Sabres and five to beat the Montreal Canadiens.

[00:02:50] And they needed seven games to get past the New Jersey Devils to win the Prince of Wales trophy for their conference and make it to the Stanley Cup finals.

[00:02:58] Now the finals began on May 18th in Edmonton and it started off with Wayne Gretzi with the first goal within 10 minutes.

[00:03:06] And that started the Edmonton Oylers on their rise. Finishing the game 2-1 with the first win of the series.

[00:03:12] The second game was on May 20th and they again took it to the Boston Bruins winning 4-2.

[00:03:18] In game three they were showing their dominance scoring a total of six goals to Boston Bruins only three.

[00:03:26] Then game four came, the second game in Boston.

[00:03:29] And Glenn Anderson of the Edmonton Oylers set a record for the quickest goal in the finals game.

[00:03:35] Scoring his first goal in 10 seconds.

[00:03:38] But the Bruins weren't giving up. They were on the ropes. They knew if they lost this game they would lose the series.

[00:03:43] So they took the lead. And this is a very unique game if you ever watch highlights.

[00:03:47] This is in the summertime in Boston.

[00:03:50] There was a fog that came up from the ice where the humidity and the ice were mixing together.

[00:03:55] Creating a fog around the puck making it hard to follow if you were watching.

[00:03:59] It made it a unique experience.

[00:04:01] But with the Bruins leading 3-2 the Oylers quickly scored another point to tie it up.

[00:04:08] And shortly after they tied it at 3-3 the lights went dead at 16 minutes and 37 seconds into the second period.

[00:04:15] So they had a whole other period left to play.

[00:04:18] And they couldn't get the lights to turn back on.

[00:04:20] Now it's said that possibly two things may have happened because of this.

[00:04:23] One being probably unlikely that Whitey Bolger the gangster of Boston had orchestrated a way for the lights to cut out.

[00:04:33] To make sure that Boston Bruins had a chance to win the series.

[00:04:36] Now this is very unlikely. If Whitey was a fan of the team he'd rather have the team play because of the rules of the finals.

[00:04:43] If he knew them it would have made it more avatacious for him to cut off the lights of the game.

[00:04:48] What more likely happened is Rats got into the wiring system of the building and had chewed through the wires and they couldn't get it fixed in time for the game that night.

[00:04:58] So they suspended the game. All these stats counted in the record books.

[00:05:03] But the game was suspended and would be made up later in the series if needed.

[00:05:08] So what they do is they just move on to the next game if they need to add that final game they would.

[00:05:13] Which would be unusual if they went to seven games as Boston was the lower seed.

[00:05:18] They would have the final game in Boston.

[00:05:21] But that's not how it actually turned out because they took game five in Edmonton and Edmonton continued their dominance winning six to three.

[00:05:30] Sweeping Boston Bruins winning their fourth Stanley Cup in five years.

[00:05:35] But this would be kind of a sad moment for Edmonton as the great one Wayne Gretzky played his last game for Edmonton.

[00:05:43] As the next year he would go to the Kings after being named MVP and scoring the series winning goal.

[00:05:50] That was the last memory of him playing in an Edmonton uniform.

[00:05:54] But this wouldn't be the last championship for Edmonton.

[00:05:57] Two years later they would win another Stanley Cup in 1990 but that would be the last one they have ever won.

[00:06:03] As for the Boston Bruins this would be again another long drought for them to win another Stanley Cup.

[00:06:10] Previously it was 1972 when they won their last Stanley Cup with Bobby Orr and Phil Espinito.

[00:06:16] It wasn't until 2010 when they finally won another Stanley Cup.

[00:06:20] Now this series will always be remembered as the Lights Out series.

[00:06:24] And it's important because you always need to be prepared for what might happen.

[00:06:29] And I think it really changed the way of the series.

[00:06:32] Now I think Edmonton would have won no matter what as they were dominating Boston throughout the series.

[00:06:38] But it took the sales out of Boston who were tied at the moment and had a chance to win at their home venue.

[00:06:44] But as the next game was in Edmonton they had put all their baskets into defending that last game.

[00:06:50] And now it all kind of came down.

[00:06:52] So really even though you can give your all they needed to find a way to come back and get it and they just lost it.

[00:06:59] And though Edmonton may have just been too strong for them to compete against.

[00:07:03] But always remember to give your all because you never know when you'll get the chance again.

[00:07:09] As the Boston Bruins waited a long time for their next Stanley Cup.

[00:07:13] And don't wait a long time to share Daily Sports History with a friend.

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[00:07:27] Come back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History.