Two Cup Winners

The Calgary Flames followed their '89 Stanley Cup Championship with a 105 point 1st place Smythe Division finish and drew the 4th place (5 games below .500) Los Angeles Kings  featuring Wayne Gretzky and a couple of his ex-Oiler buds, a couple of lucky French-Canadiens and a couple of recently acquired gritty ex-Rangers, in round one of the 1990 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Kings surprised the Flames in the 1st game  5-3. The Flames dominated in the next game at home 8-5. The series turned in Game 3 in L.A., when Tony Gronato's overtime tally gave the Kings a 2-1 series lead. The thundestruck Flames were clobbered in Game 4, 12-5. Then dominated  in Calgary 5-1 and returned with renewed confidence to L.A. for Game 6.   In the second overtime,  of a thrill a minute 3-3 game, Mike Krushelnyski flailing away in a prone position in the high slot at a bouncing puck, hit an arching floater with the shaft of his stick which wobbled over and around a stack of Kings and Flames and just a few inches over a sprawling Mike Vernon’s outstretched glove to eliminate the defending champions. I remember watching this long intensive game on an early giant blurry rear projection screen going crazy over the goal and having no idea who scored and how. (It took at least three or four angles and replays to see catch how the winning goal actually happened came about.)
That was one of the my most gratifying Kings playoff series, in that I really felt L.A. embracing the Kings as a legit part of the L.A. sports community, as they do with the Dodgers and Lakers. (not to that degree, but in the ballpark). I remember wearing my Kings Black & Silver jersey, with #88 (pre-Lindros) and my nom de plum on the back often to many non-hockey events and getting “Go Kings!” “Whoo hoos!” and even a high five while just walking around, shopping malls and busy sidewalks. My most specific flashback is while walking from our parking spot to the Wiltern Theatre to see a Mumenchanz performance and getting a fist pump and “All right Kings!” from an approaching stranger on Western Ave. and a “Flames suck!” from someone else behind me. The media were on board more then ever. The local sports shows actually showed highlites other than fights, as well as player interviews and hyped the series between games. Non-sports shows were regularly remarking on the the Kings exploits. The night of the 12-4 victory over Calgary, the radio station I listened to kept mocking the Flames, announcing facetious bulletins saying “the Kings have scored again, the Kings have scored again, it’s now 16 to 5!” 

Although, the Kings were swept in the next round by the eventual Cup winning Edmonton Oilers led by Mark Messier, they showed that they now had the playoff grit that they had been missing before trading Bernie Nichols (another favorite) for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato. The sweep, of course, was very humbling but left some hope that the following year the Kings may knock off the defending champion Edmonton Oilers.