April 10, 1982: The Los Angeles Kings pull off a stunning victory, the signature win in franchise history, at least for the next 30 years. It is known as the Miracle On Manchester.
It was the 1st Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they were playing one of the NHL's rising teams, the Edmonton Oilers, featuring a group of young players that had excited fans all over, but not yet won more than a Division title: Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe and Grant Fuhr.
The Kings, with a crown as their logo, had the Triple Crown Line of center Marcel Dionne, right wing Dave Taylor and left wing Charlie Simmer; center Bernie Nicholls; defensemen Larry Murphy and Mark Hardy; and goaltender Mario Lessard.
Having started play with the NHL's "Great Expansion" in 1967, the Kings had now made the Playoffs in 11 of their 1st 15 seasons, a very good record. But they'd only won 3 series, their best performance a 7-game loss to the Boston Bruins in the 1976 Quarterfinals. They had also never finished 1st in their Division. (Even today, with over half a century in their history, they've won their Division only once, in 1991.)
The Kings shocked the Northlands Coliseum ground by winning Game 1, 10-8. It was the highest-scoring game in Stanley Cup Playoff history. Much more calmly, the Oilers won Game 2, 3-2.
The action shifted to The Forum, at 3900 West Manchester Boulevard, in Inglewood, 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles. The Kings had shared it with the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers since it opened in 1967, but the Lakers had already been far more successful there: They were about to win their 3rd out of 6 NBA Finals appearances since moving in.
It looked like a disaster for the Kings. Halfway through the 1st period, Messier scored. With 37 seconds left, Gretzky scored a shorthanded goal. In the 2nd period, the Kings got another goal by Gretzky; another shorthanded goal, this one by Lee Fogolin; and another goal by Risto Slitanen. The Oilers led, 5-0.
But 2:46 into the 3rd period, Jay Wells got the Kings on the board. At 5:58, Doug Smith made it 5-2. It looked to be too little, too late. But it wasn't: With 5:22 left, Simmer made it 5-3. With 4:01 to go, Hardy made it 5-4. The Kings got a power play, and head coach Don Perry pulled Lessard for the extra attacker. With 5 seconds left, Steve Bozek scored to tie the game.
At 2 minutes and 35 seconds into the 1st overtime, Daryl Evans -- no related to baseball All-Star Darrell Evans -- fired a shot that Fuhr tried to swipe with his glove, but just missed. It was over: Kings 6, Oilers 5.
It was the 1st time an NHL team had won a game after trailing by at least 5 goals, and it had happened in the Playoffs. Since then, there have been 9 other games where a team has won an NHL game after trailing by 5 goals -- but never by 6, and never again in the Playoffs.
The Oilers were stunned, but recovered in time to win Game 4, 3-2. A deciding Game 5 was played in Edmonton, and the Kings unloaded, winning 7-4. The Kings were moving on, and the Oilers were out.
The Kings lost the next round to the Vancouver Canucks, 4 games to 1. The Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1983, losing to the New York Islanders, who won their 4th straight Cup. But in 1984, the Oilers reached the Finals again, and beat the Islanders to end their "Drive for Five." The Oilers won the Cup again in 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990.
But Gretzky got a taste of what life in Los Angeles was like. In 1988, having married actress Janet Jones, he asked to be traded to Los Angeles. He got his wish, and in 1991, he led the Kings to their 1st Division title; and in 1993, to their 1st Western Conference Championship and Stanley Cup Finals berth, where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens.
The Oilers won that 1990 Cup without Gretzky -- and without Kurri, who had joined him on the Kings; and without Coffey, and with Fuhr now backing up new goalie Andy Moog. But they haven't won one since, making only 1 Finals, in 2006, losing to the Carolina Hurricanes.
In 1999, the Kings moved into the Staples Center, since renamed the Crypto.com Arena, in downtown Los Angeles. They finally won the Cup in 2012, and did it again in 2014.
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April 10, 1982 was a Saturday. These other Stanley Cup Playoff games were played that day:
* The New York Islanders lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. Rick Kehoe scored the winner, 4:14 into overtime. But the Isles would win the series.
* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Cam Connor scored the winner with 1:09 left in regulation.
* The Quebec Nordiques beat their arch-rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 at the Colisée de Québec. They would win the series in overtime in Game 5.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins, 5-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 7-1 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-3 at the St. Louis Arena.
* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames, 3-1 at the Stampede Corral in Calgary.
The NBA was still in the regular season. These 7 games were played:
* The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 117-114 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Indiana Pacers, 115-86 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 115-114 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Houston Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 105-100 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.") George Gervin scored 38 for the Spurs, but it wasn't enough, as Moses Malone had 27 points and 17 rebounds.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 116-99 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets, 151-136 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. Nope, there was no overtime in this one. For the Jazz, Adrian Dantley scored 53, and Rickey Green scored 32. The Nuggets got 25 from Dan Issel, and 24 each from Alex English and Kiki Vandeweghe.
* And the Golden State Warriors beat the San Diego Clippers, 132-119 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Purvis Short scored 33 points for the Warriors.
Football was out of season. There were 12 Major League Baseball games played that day. The New York Yankees were not in any of them, as a snowstorm the previous Monday had left Yankee Stadium unplayable until the next day.
* The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 9-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* A doubleheader was split at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Boston Red Sox won the 1st game, 2-0. Dennis Eckersley pitched a 6-hit shutout. The Baltimore Orioles won the 2nd game, 5-3. In the doubleheader, for the Red Sox, Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-7 with a home run and 2 RBIs; while, for the Orioles, Murray 5-for-9 with 3 RBIs, and Cal Ripken went 1-for-8.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 8-6 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Barry Bonnell singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. For the Giants, Joe Morgan won the game with a top of the 10th inning single against his former team.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.)
* The California Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-1 at the new Metrodome in Minneapolis. Against his former team, Rod Carew went 0-for-2, but with 3 walks. New Angels signing Reggie Jackson did not play.
* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 6-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, on the 20th Anniversary of the 1st game ever played there. Fernando Valenzuela left the game after pitching 6 shutout innings, and Dusty Baker hit a home run.
Also, North London soccer team Arsenal traveled to the Goldstone Ground in Hove, East Sussex, and lost to Brighton & Hove Albion, 2-1.
And Andre Ethier, a 2-time All-Star outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was born on this day. So was Chyler Leigh, who played Alex Danvers/Sentinel, the adoptive sister of the title character on the superhero TV series Supergirl.
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