1987 Stanley Cup Finals The 1987 Stanley Cup Final was played between the Edmonton Oilers and the Philadelphia Flyers . The Oilers would win the series 4 – 3 , for their third Stanley Cup victory . Paths to the Final . For the third straight year , the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers finished the regular season with the two best records in the NHL . While the Oilers success came from their vaunted offense , the Flyers relied on grit , defensive play , and solid goaltending from Vezina Trophy winner Ron Hextall . The Oilers cruised into the Finals with relative ease , losing only two games in the process . They beat the Los Angeles Kings in five games , swept the Winnipeg Jets , and then beat the Detroit Red Wings in five to win the Clarence S . Campbell Bowl for the fourth time in five years . The Flyers , meanwhile , had a much harder road . It took them six games to knock off the New York Rangers , went the full seven against the New York Islanders , and then beat the Montreal Canadiens in six to claim their second Prince of Wales Trophy in three years . The Series . The Oilers and Flyers met in the finals 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 . This was a re - match of the 1985 Stanley Cup Finals , where the Oilers beat the Flyers in five games . Unlike the 1985 final , this series went to 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 . During the Stanley Cup presentation , Oilers captain Wayne Gretzky would give the Cup to Steve Smith , who one year earlier scored on his own net that led to their downfall against the Calgary Flames in the Smythe Division Final . Ron Hextall would receive the Conn Smythe Trophy for his efforts . Many people consider this to be one of the greatest Stanley Cup Finals of all time . Game one . Tied at 1 – 1 after 40 minutes of play , the Oilers put the game away with a three - goal burst in the third period on scores by Glenn Anderson , Paul Coffey and Jari Kurri . Gretzky registered a goal and an assist in the onslaught as part of a 4 – 2 win . The Flyers outshot Edmonton 31 – 26 . Game two . This time , the Flyers led 2 – 1 after two periods . Despite matching the Oilers line for line and speed for speed , Edmonton burned Philly with a third - period goal , then on the game - winner by Kurri , who took advantage of some disorganized defensive play by the Flyers in overtime to score the game - winning goal with a wide - open chance in a 3 – 2 overtime victory . Game three . Looking to take a convincing 3 – 0 series lead , Edmonton came out firing , taking a 2 – 0 lead after one period on goals by Mark Messier and Coffey , then stretching it to 3 – 0 on Anderson ' s fluke breakaway goal 1 : 49 into the second . With their backs against the wall , the Flyers began a comeback on second - period goals by Murray Craven and Peter Zezel . Early in the third , tallies 17 seconds apart by Scott Mellanby and Brad McCrimmon tied the game , then put the Flyers ahead 4 – 3 . For the remainder of the period , the Flyers gamely kept the Oilers potent offense at bay until Brian Propp ' s empty - net goal sealed a 5 – 3 win . Until this point , no team had ever rebounded from a 3 – 0 deficit to win a game in the Finals , and the Flyers won their first - ever playoff game after yielding a game ' s first three goals . Game four . The momentum from game three did not carry over for Philadelphia . Gretzky notched three assists as the Oilers won , 4 – 1 , and took a three games to one series lead . In a relatively sedate affair , the most shocking event came when Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall viciously chopped his stick across the back of the legs of Edmonton ' s Kent Nilsson in the third period when trailing 4 – 1 . Hextall was apparently incensed that Anderson and other Oilers had cruised through the goal crease untouched and unpenalized during the game , and took out his frustration on the last Oiler he happened to see skate by . Nilsson was uninjured by Hextall ' s actions . Hextall would be suspended for the first eight games of 1987 - 88 . Game five . Since the plans for a future victory parade were already published in the day ' s papers , the Oilers looked like those plans would come to fruition when they dented Hextall for two quick first - period goals . Although the Flyers got one back and trailed 2 – 1 after one period , Hextall let Edmonton ' s third goal of the game , a tip - in by Marty McSorley with nearly two minutes gone in the second slip between his arm and body , time was growing short . Facing the end of their season , the Flyers clawed back and tied the game , 3 – 3 on goals by Doug Crossman and Pelle Eklund . With almost six minutes played in the third , Propp fed Rick Tocchet in the slot for the go - ahead score . Hextall and the Flyers defense clamped down on the Oilers the rest of the way and the series came back to Philadelphia . Game six . With a chance to close out the series without the pressure of home ice , Edmonton took a 2 – 0 lead against a hesitant Flyers club on a disputed goal by Kevin Lowe and a stuffer by checking winger Kevin McClelland . The Oilers took control of the game in all aspects , outshooting Philly 15 – 5 in the opening 20 minutes . Things were not looking up until Lindsay Carson managed to thread a puck through Grant Fuhr ' s pads a little more than seven minutes into the second period . The Oilers kept the pressure on , and carried play into the third period . However , Anderson ' s careless high - sticking penalty with eight minutes left in regulation led to Propp ' s electric game - tying goal , snapping a shot high into the left corner of the net . Only 84 seconds later , little - used Flyer defenceman J . J . Daigneault stepped up to a dying puck inside the Oilers blue line , and cranked the puck just inside the right post to give the Flyers a 3 – 2 advantage . The only threat to that lead came with 10 seconds left , when Mark Messier picked off Hextall ' s attempted clear , broke in , and took one shot into Hextall ' s pads and a second over the top of the net . Mark Howe knocked down a last - ditch Oiler effort at the buzzer , and the Finals headed to a seventh game for the first time since 1971 . Game seven . Two unusual occurrences marked the opening of the game : The Flyers were awarded a two - man advantage one minute into the contest , and scored the first goal of the game for the first time in the Finals . Craven banked a shot off Fuhr ' s skate only 1 : 41 into the game for a 1 – 0 Philadelphia lead . The Flyers failed to score on the back half of the 5 - on - 3 , and the Oilers came back six minutes later when Messier finished off a 3 - on - 1 with a backhander to tie the game . Kurri delivered a huge blow to Flyers victory hopes when he beat Hextall with quick wrist shot off a Gretzky pass at 14 : 59 into the second period which gave the Oilers a one - goal cushion . Edmonton poured it on late , outshooting the Flyers 13 – 6 in the middle 20 minutes and 12 – 2 in the third , finally getting an insurance goal on Anderson ' s 30 - footer up the middle with 2 : 24 to play . Philadelphia ' s Hextall , who had 40 saves in game seven , was selected as the playoffs MVP despite Edmonton ' s victory .