Northlands Coliseum has stood for 51 years to this point, opening on November 10, 1974. That was the night of a World Hockey Association game between the Edmonton Oilers and Cleveland Crusaders. That was the first of four digits worth of Oilers games to be played inside what would become hallowed walls.

Alas, the beginning of the end has come, and it is official the grand old barn will come down a year from now. The last game played at what was then Rexall Place was on April 6, 2016: a 6–2 win over the Vancouver Canucks. After less than two years hosting various other events, it closed for good.

This observer saw many an event here, the last of which was the Davis Cup tennis event in September 2017. Nearly eight years later, this observer writes this digital stroll down memory lane. Doing so, while sitting right at the foot of the Coliseum. Because, like many other Oilers fans, the Stadium Love is very real within this soul.

The Oil Rig takes a break from the chronological order of Franchise History Lookbacks, to bring you this special edition version. Time to play all the hits.

Honourable mentions

Smytty ties Anderson in power play goals

A more underrated moment came during franchise legend Ryan Smyth’s final NHL season. On March 6, 2014 Smyth notched a power play goal against one of his former teams, the New York Islanders. It was his 126th power play goal as an Oiler, moving him past Wayne Gretzky and tying Glenn Anderson atop the franchise record books.

By joining Anderson, Smyth would have a share of that record for nine years, until a fellow named Leon Draisaitl came along and shattered it. In Smytty’s final game, the Oilers did everything they could to try and get him power play goal #127. It wasn’t meant to be, but to pass Gretzky in anything in the Oilers history books was a monumental feat in and of itself back then.

The Stefan fail

“Bergeron fans on his pass; Stefan steals, and he’ll ice it. Oh, at least I thought he was gonna- until he blew it! Here come the Oilers the other way, and Hemsky’s loose! Hemsky- HE SCORES! CAN YOU. BELIEVE. WHAT WE. JUST SAW?!”

An all-time call to go along with an all-time miss, as, having shot at the open net seconds earlier and not succeeded, Dallas Stars forward Patrik Stefan was given a second opportunity and decided to skate it all the way to the net this time. However, he underestimated the ski-jump left behind in the goalie crease.

Puck flubbed, down goes Stefan trying to correct course. Petr Sykora picks up the lost puck, gets it up to Smyth, who in turn feeds Ales Hemsky to tie the game. The most improbable sequence possibly in NHL history, and nobody needs to know who won the game. Just remember the Oilers signed Stefan’s son to an ELC.

10. Mike Comrie’s playoff OT winner

The first half of the 2000s was filled with either playoff disappointment or near-misses, often coming at the hands of the Stars. 2001 would be no exception; the Oilers were eliminated in the first round in six games. At least the Oilers got a couple of wins out of the deal, including in Game 4.

Mike Comrie made sure the series went back to Dallas evened up at two games apiece. As far as the early 2000’s were concerned, Comrie was the prototypical “local boy,” so him personally drawing the series even was that much sweeter. Despite four straight eliminations by Dallas, moments like this proved the Oilers could give it a good fight.

9. McDavid undresses the Jackets

One of the worst moments in recent franchise history was Connor McDavid having his clavicle broken by then-Flyer Brandon Manning. (The second-worst was the Oilers trading for Manning in 2019.) McDavid very well could have won the Calder Trophy if not for missing three months due to that injury.

McDavid, upon returning to the lineup, gave everyone a glimpse of the future with the first true “McDavidian” goal, to create a new term. Faced with three Columbus Blue Jackets defenders, he waltzed right through all of them before tucking the puck past goaltender Joonas Korpisalo. Of course, he has come up with more legendary individual efforts since. But this was basically the OG.

8. The Yak Slide

Adam Henrique had a pretty cool knee-slide celly against the Vegas Golden Knights in the most recent playoffs. But never forget where your roots lay. Flames fans will claim it started with Theo Fleury. But Oilers fans know Nail Yakupov perfected the dual knee-slide.

Contextually, this was a big goal. The Los Angeles Kings were up 1–0 in the dying seconds of the third period. It should have been 1–1, but a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tying goal earlier had been waved off. Yakupov, after a shot on goal was stopped by Jonathan Quick, alertly knocked home the rebound to be sure the game would see overtime. As Jack Michaels said it in his call, “Justice has been served!”

Yakupov followed that goal up with a soccer-esque dual-knee slide celly that carried him all the way into his own zone. In a time where the NHL embraced personality and flair much less than it does today, this ruffled feathers. But, of course, Oil Country ate it up. Though Yakupov’s NHL career was mostly a dud, he gave us this iconic moment at least.

7. A first NHL goal for the ages

First NHL goals can vary in terms of how they occur. Some may be perfect wrist-shots or one-timers off the rush. Others might be greasier; a deflection in front of the goalie, or poking home a rebound. Sometimes you don’t even know if your first goal counts. (This observer knows all too well.)

After being drafted by the Oilers in 2008, Jordan Eberle debuted in the 2010–11 season. And on Opening Night of that season against the Flames, Eberle scored what might still stand as the greatest first career goal in NHL history. After receiving a bounce-pass from Jim Vandermeer, Eberle busted up ice on a two-on-one with Shawn Horcoff. Rather than dish to Horcoff, Eberle just simply waited out a sliding Ian White before deking out goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.

The overall confidence on this goal, the guts to not defer to one of the team’s veterans. And Kiprusoff being the goalie getting scored on. Everything about this goal just made it so legendary instantly. What a way to start off the season.

6. Scrivens’s 59-save shutout

In case it was never clear, the Oilers teams of the early- to mid-2010s were defensively a wreck most nights. Goaltending didn’t help matters either the majority of the time, that is true. But take a look at some of the names to play defence back then in Oilers colours, and you’ll see why nights could be pretty tough.

This all came to a head not long after the Oilers acquired Ben Scrivens from the Kings in 2013–14. Scrivens, Kings gear and all, had enough of it all one night. Specifically the night of January 29. That night, the Spruce Grove product put on the best regular season impression of a brick wall that has ever been done.

The shots the San Jose Sharks fed to him weren’t point shots that were easy pickings. These were in close, with several rebounds attached to them. The robberies of both Bracken Kearns and future Oiler Jason Demers were two of the best saves of them all.

The Oilers won 3–0 thanks to Scrivens’ heroics, a term not used lightly but befitting when the shot clock read 59–27 in San Jose’s favour at the final buzzer. Another future Oiler, Mike Smith, had held the previous saves record in a regularseason shutout with 56. Scrivens’s 59 set a new bar that hasn’t been cleared since. And given how annoyed head coach Dallas Eakins was after the game, it likely never will be by any team’s netminder.

@Lobstertainment i like dallas eakins quote when the oilers got hammered by the sharks but won “i’m happy for ben but pissed off at our team

— josh (@djjoshiejosh) February 19, 2014

5. Sam Gagner’s eight-point night

Since 1989, only one NHL player has notched eight points in a single game. For a feat that happened with regularity in the 80s thanks to names like Mario Lemieux, for it to only happen once since usually means it has to be a legendary player.

Sam Gagner would be on an Oilers roster that would go to the Stanley Cup Final. Just not in the 2011–12 season, while the team was still down bad. The fortunate news, on February 2, 2012, was that the opponent that night was the Chicago Blackhawks. The Oilers had already drubbed the ‘Hawks 9–3 earlier in the season, so there was a reason to feel good.

It wasn’t good after 20 minutes of play, with Edmonton behind 2–0. Folks, this is where a name will be thrown out there that very few will ever remember, but it makes for good trivia usage: Phillippe Cornet. That night, Gagner and Eberle started on a line with Cornet, while Taylor Hall was slotted next to Hemsky and Horcoff. After the first period, Cornet was demoted (a signal his brief NHL stint would come to an end after the game) and Hall got teamed up with Gagner and Eberle. The rest is history.

Four goals, four assists for eight points, all but one or two of them being highlight-reel quality. Gagner matched the franchise points-in-a-game record held by Gretzky, and Paul Coffey, and The Great One himself would text Gagner after the game. One of the most transcendent nights in the past 15 years of NHL hockey.

4. Game 3, 1981 versus Montreal

This was covered in-depth in the first Lookbacks article, but it must be stated again. This was the first moment that put the Oilers on the NHL map, after a middling 1979–80 campaign and a slightly-better 1980–81 regular season.

The Canadiens were the third-seed that year, and the Oilers the 14th, in a one through 16 seeding era. The Habs had also only just had their streak of four straight Cups snapped the year prior. So this was a legit force to be reckoned with that the Oilers took down.

And they did so by winning the first two games at the storied Montreal Forum. They then came home to a raucous Coliseum crowd for Game 3, where they didn’t allow the Canadiens a sniff of any comeback in the series. Andy Moog’s brilliance, and timely goal-scoring, helped them seal the upset at home.

3. Game 3, 1997 versus Dallas

The 1997 and 1998 playoff runs, in some regards, saved the Oilers from relocating. It was not unlike baseball’s Seattle Mariners a couple of years prior. So those runs could have their own moment here, really. (But it will be hinted, they may get discussed in the future. Stay tuned.)

And since Todd Marchant’s series-winning OT goal came at Reunion Arena in Dallas, we’ll dial it back to Game 3. The Stars, entering the final five minutes of regulation time, had a commanding 3–0 lead and looked poised to jump ahead in the series. This game was the original late three-goal playoff comeback.

Then-Captain Doug Weight scored with four minutes left to break up Moog’s shutout bid. Andrei Kovalenko notched a power play goal just 1:44 later, and 12 seconds after that Mike Grier tied the game up. In the space of under two minutes, the Oilers went from 3–0 down to tied 3–3, sending the game to overtime. That set the stage for Kelly Buchberger’s heroics to win the game in OT.

The Oilers know blown three-goal leads in the playoffs unfortunately, but if ever a retort is needed, this exists. Remind the chirpers that the Oilers at least never did it in under two minutes. The Stars did, and it still gets discussed all these years later.

2. The 2006 playoff run

The run to the 2006 Stanley Cup Final has so many standout moments on its own. From Horcoff and Jarret Stoll tallying OT winners at home, to Hemsky’s series-winner with 1:06 left in Game 6 against Detroit, the whole run is so iconic. All you need to say to an Oilers fan is “2006,” and the stories flow from there.

Unlike the teams of the past couple of recent seasons, the 2005–06 Oilers didn’t have many expectations. Yes, they had landed Chris Pronger thanks to the St. Louis Blues needing to shed cap space. But still, the team was more or less where they had been for the past decade: mid-tier. Even with trading for Dwayne Roloson at the trade deadline, the Oilers only just snuck into the playoffs via the 8th seed in the Western Conference.

As the playoffs love to prove though, it’s the hottest and most clutch teams who go the furthest. The Oilers got clutch moments, and elite performances from multiple players. Most notably, Fernando Pisani became such a folk hero that he now has a plaza on 107 Street in Downtown named after him. And the Roloson acquisition paid immediate dividends as well.

Both this run, and 2024’s run, ended in Game 7 heartbreaks. The Oilers were within 2–1 in both, and Carolina simply tacked on an empty-netters for the 2006 edition. But both will be remembered for generations to come despite those endings.

1. Clinching Cups four times in five years in the ‘80s

Between 1984 and 1988, the Oilers won the Stanley Cup all but one year in particular. This era has also been well covered in the Lookbacks series, so let’s just shorten the thought process here. It’s not fair to pick an order of the best Cup clinches on home ice. Each one was sweet.

Maybe 1984 holds the edge because it made the Oilers the fastest expansion team to win the Cup, a record that still stands. 1985 completed the most dominant run we’ve ever seen. And for funsies, 1987 offered a little bit of drama before giving the Oilers the Game seven clinch.

We’ll likely never see four Cups in five years be done ever again. Even the Blackhawks of the 2010s only managed three in six years, and would have still needed six years to claim four if 2014 had ended differently. Florida may be good right now, and they have a chance, but so much would have to go right for that to work.

The Oilers dynasty was the last of its kind, where teams could truly reign as champions. All four Cups clinched on Coliseum ice were special because they gave Edmonton that status. And apart from everything else, they’re why it’s the greatest travesty ever the Coliseum is being torn down. It was the only Canadian arena beside the Montreal Forum and Maple Leaf Gardens, that saw so many Cups won on its ice. Those two buildings still stand today. Alas, the Coliseum will not. But the memories will live for time eternal.

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