League National Hockey League Season champions Edmonton Oilers Champion Edmonton Oilers Top scorer Wayne Gretzky Number of games 80 | Sport Ice hockey Champions Edmonton Oilers Start date 1986 Number of teams 21 Season MVP Wayne Gretzky | |
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Duration October 9, 1986 – May 31, 1987 Playoffs Playoffs MVP Ron Hextall, (Philadelphia) Similar 1991–92 NHL season, 1980–81 NHL season, 1985–86 NHL season | ||
The 1986–87 NHL season was the 70th season of the National Hockey League. The Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup by beating the Philadelphia Flyers four games to three in the Cup finals.
Contents
League business
The Chicago-based club officially changed their name from the two-worded "Black Hawks" to the one-worded "Blackhawks" based on the spelling found in their original franchise documents.
Regular season
The Oilers won their second straight Presidents' Trophy as the top team and Wayne Gretzky won his eighth straight Hart Trophy and his seventh straight Art Ross Trophy.
On November 26, 1986, Toronto's Borje Salming was accidentally cut in the face by a skate, requiring more than 200 stitches. It was the third injury to his face and Salming returned to play wearing a visor.
On April 4, 1987, the Islanders' Denis Potvin became the first NHL defenceman to reach 1000 points. A shot by the Islanders' Mikko Makela deflected in off Potvin's arm in a 6–6 shootout between the Islanders and Sabres.
Final standings
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Playoffs
In an attempt to reduce the number of first round upsets, the NHL expanded the best-of-five series in the first round to a best-of-seven series.
Stanley Cup Finals
The Oilers and Flyers would meet again in the final for the second time in three years. This time, Edmonton was the regular season champion with 50 wins and 106 points, and Philadelphia was second with 46 wins and 100 points. Unlike the 1985 final, this series would go the full seven games. Edmonton took the first two games at home, then split in Philadelphia. However, the Flyers won the next two games, one in Edmonton and one back in Philadelphia by one goal, to force a deciding seventh game. Edmonton won game seven to earn its third Stanley Cup in four seasons.
All-Star teams
Source: NHL
Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes, PPG = Powerplay Goals, SHG = Shorthanded Goals, GWG = Game Winning Goals
Source: NHL.
Leading goaltenders
Minimum 2000 min. GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage
Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1986–87 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1986–87 (listed with their last team):