1981-82 playoffs. Edmonton Oilers had finished 2nd in the NHL in points (behind only the Islanders, who would win their 3rd straight Cup that year) and Los Angeles finished 17th. 17th out of 21 teams and in the playoffs, man the 80s were wild. 20 y/o Wayne Gretzky had set NHL records for goals and points in a single season. 92 goals, 212 points, no big deal I used to hit that on NHL 99 on N64 all the time. The Kings had managed to split the first two games in Edmonton, but the Oilers had a 5-0 lead in Game 3 in LA heading into the 3rd. Kings ended up coming back to win the game (obviously, otherwise I wouldn't post about some random game in the early 80s) and took the series in 5 games (the opening round was best of 5 back then). The Oilers broke through and made the finals the next season, then finally won the Cup the year after.

Lessons NHL fans learned from this series: Every team full of extremely talented but young players who suffers heartbreaking losses in the first round will learn from their lessons and see playoff success eventually, right? Right? Guys? Right?

Random fun facts I just had to look up about this series: the Oilers finished 48 points ahead of the Kings in the regular season (and this was before the loser point and shootouts). The Oilers were the highest scoring team in the league, 32 goals more than the 2nd place team and 103 goals more than LA. The Oilers' goal differential was +122, while the Kings were -55. What?? Also, the Kings had 2 guys with more than 70 points. The Oilers had 6, 5 of who were future Hall of Famers, including Gretzky who had 70 points three times over that year, and also had a future HoFer at goalie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUrWcOq11V8