Oilers Give Bruins the Slip, 2-1, in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Finals

EDMONTON, Canada —  This year’s Stanley Cup finals have been called “Beauty and the Beast,” implying that the glamorous Edmonton Oilers might be at a disadvantage in a low-scoring game against the big, bad Boston Bruins.

But as they have throughout the playoffs, the Oilers showed in the first game of the series Wednesday night that they can adapt to whatever style is needed on any particular night.

They beat the Bruins, 2-1, limiting the visitors to only 14 shots on goal before a capacity crowd of 17,502 at the Northlands Coliseum.

“That stigma or perception that the Oilers are an open-ice offensive team (should be) a thing of the past, as far as I’m concerned,” Bruin Coach Terry O’Reilly said. “They play a very physical and defensive brand of hockey and they move the puck up to their gunners. And they’ve got a handful of gunners, so it’s a nice combination.

“And if they make a mistake, they’ve got (goaltender Grant) Fuhr.”

Glen Sather, the Oilers’ coach, said that he also had grown tired of the Oilers’ Showtime image.

“I read one article that said we had suspect defensemen,” Sather said. “I just wonder where people get these ideas.”

Keith Acton, used only sparingly by the Oilers since being acquired in a January trade with the Minnesota North Stars, scored the game-winning goal, re-directing a shot by Steve Smith at 1 minute 15 seconds of the third period to break a 1-1 tie.

“I lost sight of it,” said Bruin goaltender Andy Moog, who was screened as Smith shot from the top of the slot.

Said Acton: “I don’t think he was shooting at the net. I think he was passing to me for the deflection. It was a heads-up play.”

Moog, the former Oiler who was an improbable starter since Rejean Lemelin started the previous 11 playoff games for the Bruins, played well against his former teammates, stopping 20 shots.

Disenchanted in Edmonton with his No. 2 status behind Fuhr, Moog asked to be traded last fall, and when the Oilers failed to grant his request, he left to join the Canadian Olympic team.

He was traded to the Bruins 2 1/2 months ago.

“I don’t have anything but good things to say about the way he played tonight,” Sather said of Moog. “He’s always been a terrific goaltender.

“But our goalie won.”

Fuhr, making his 90th appearance of the season and his 33rd straight playoff start for the Oilers, didn’t face many shots, but nevertheless made several tough saves.

“We’re going to have to generate a lot more offense,” O’Reilly said. “We didn’t get nearly enough shots on net. We got some opportunities, but I think Fuhr was outstanding.

“I think we have to be more physical. I think by taking the body we can slow down their forwards. We have to create more traffic in front of their net. We have to do a lot of things.”

With both teams playing “an intelligent and cautious” style, in Sather’s words, the game was scoreless until Wayne Gretzky put the Oilers ahead with a power-play goal at 1:56 of the second period.

Gretzky, stopped at close range by Moog in the last minute of the first period, scored his 10th goal of the playoffs from the right side of the net.

Smith fired a shot from the top of the slot that caromed off the stick of defenseman Glen Wesley and glanced off the left skate of Bruin defenseman Michael Thelven toward Moog.

Moog stopped the puck from getting past him but failed to control it. The puck bounced back out to the right side, where Gretzky reached his stick between Wesley’s legs and poked it into the lower right corner of the net.

“It hit something and then hit Andy in the arm,” Gretzky said of his shot. “Andy pushed it over the line (as he fell back).”

Cam Neeley, who scored a career-high 42 goals for Boston in the regular season, pulled the Bruins even at 13:15 of the second period with his eighth goal of the playoffs.

Craig Janney was knocked down by Smith along the right side and just inside the Oiler blue line but managed to feed the puck to Neely, whose 35-foot shot from the top of the right face-off circle banged off the inside of Fuhr’s right leg and between the goaltender’s pads into the net.

Stanley Cup Notes

Goalie Grant Fuhr has started every playoff game for the Oilers since Andy Moog beat the Kings in Game 3 of a Smythe Division semifinal series on April 11, 1987. . . . Mark Messier of the Oilers was held without a point for the first time in 15 playoff games this season. . . . Keith Acton didn’t make his playoff debut for the Oilers until Game 4 of the Campbell Conference final against the Detroit Red Wings, sitting out the Oilers’ first 12 playoff games. . . . The Oilers are 13-2 in postseason play, including a 9-0 record at the Northlands Coliseum.