For all his money, Bruce McNall couldn't buy a Stanley Cup for the Los Angeles Kings - at least, not this season.
The Kings, who have the highest salary base in the NHL, thanks to their free-spending owner, ended their season precipitously Tuesday night when they lost 3-0 to Edmonton and were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs."There's no sense pointing fingers right now," said Kings coach Tom Webster. "You have to sit back, you have to take a good look at our whole year. It's been a year of a great deal of adversity. We have to assess every situation. Now's just not a finger-pointing time."
The victory wrapped up the first-round series for the Oilers in six games and sent them into the Smythe Division finals against the winner of the Vancouver-Winnipeg series.
Smythe Division
Oilers 3, Kings 0
The Oilers' present put their past to rest as they won their Smythe Division semifinal series from the Kings.
Bill Ranford stopped 26 shots as the Oilers ousted the Kings, whose roster includes five members of Edmonton's Stanley Cup dynasty of the 1980s - including Wayne Gretzky, the league's highest-paid player.
Canucks 8, Jets 3
The Canucks, led by Pavel Bure's three goals, forced a seventh game in their Smythe Division series with Winnipeg.
The Canucks, who trailed 3-1 in the series, took the crowd out of the game by the midpoint of the first period and ran up a 5-1 lead before the 12-minute mark of the second.
Norris Division
Blackhawks 2, Blues 1
Jeremy Roenick scored both of his team's goals as the Blackhawks wrapped up their first-round series, winning the final three games.
The Blackhawks have won seven of eight playoff series against St. Louis. The only time the Blues beat the Blackhawks was in 1988, Brian Sutter's final season as a player.
Red Wings 1, North Stars 0
The Red Wings forced a seventh game in the Norris Division semifinals, using Sergei Fedorov's disputed goal 16:13 into overtime and Tim Cheveldae's second successive shutout to beat the North Stars.
By winning Thursday night in Detroit, the Red Wings can become only the ninth team in NHL history to win a series after falling behind 3-1.