Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1990                   TAG: 9005230349
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: EDMONTON, ALBERTA                                LENGTH: Medium

OILERS ONE VICTORY FROM STANLEY CUP

The Oilers, led by Anderson's two first-period goals and Ranford's stellar play, beat the Boston Bruins 5-1 Tuesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the NHL finals.

Since the best-of-seven format was adopted in 1939, the only team to come back after trailing 3-1 in the finals was Toronto, which beat Detroit in 1942. Six teams in earlier rounds have overcome that deficit.

The Bruins take their crack at it starting Thursday night in Game 5 at Boston, where the Oilers won the first two games of the series. Edmonton's victory Tuesday night was the first by a home team in the series.

For the fourth straight game, the team that scored first never trailed.

Anderson put the Oilers ahead on a power play 2:13 into the game as Edmonton capitalized on superior skating and passing skills to find wide-open teammates on the large Northlands Coliseum ice surface.

Craig Simpson went around Boston defenseman Don Sweeney at the right boards in the Bruins' zone. He passed across the slot to the speedy Anderson, racing in all alone. Anderson drew goalie Andy Moog to the right of the goal, cut in front of the crease and hit the open net.

Showing his speed again, Anderson made the score 2-0 at 16:27 of the period. Mark Messier, who had no goals and one assist in the series, had the puck behind the Boston net. Anderson zipped in from the blue line, took Messier's crisp backhand pass 15 feet in front of Moog and fired the puck over the goalie's left shoulder for his ninth goal of the playoffs and third of the series.

Ranford stopped 25 shots and has allowed just seven goals on 126 shots in the series. He was especially sharp in the second period. He turned aside at least four solid shots between goals by Simpson one minute into the period and Esa Tikkanen with 45 seconds left.

Ranford stopped Cam Neely's hard 15-footer at 5:17 and Ray Bourque's 20-foot backhander at 10:07. Brian Propp got behind the Oilers' defense, but Ranford turned aside his 10-footer at 15:20. Then, at 18:18, Dave Christian fired a 40-foot slap shot that Ranford plucked from the air.

John Carter spoiled Ranford's shutout bid with 4:58 remaining, beating him with a slap shot from just above the left faceoff dot. The goal ended Ranford's shutout streak at 99 minutes, 58 seconds.

Simpson took over the playoff goal-scoring lead when he batted in a rebound with 1:24 remaining. It was his 15th of the playoffs and the fourth of the night for the Simpson-Messier-Anderson line.

Ranford, who saw his five-game winning streak snapped in Boston's 2-1 victory here Sunday night, is 15-6 in the playoffs. He is one victory short of tying the NHL record of 16 in one playoff season set by Edmonton's Grant Fuhr in 1988, when the Oilers swept Boston in the finals to win their fourth Stanley Cup in five years. Calgary's Mike Vernon tied the mark last year.

Keywords:
HOCKEY