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The 1989–90 Edmonton Oilers season was the Oilers' 11th season in the NHL, and they were coming off their shortest playoff run in seven years when the Los Angeles Kings defeated Edmonton in the first round of the playoffs. Edmonton would improve their point total from 84 to 90, and finish in 2nd place in the Smythe Division. ==Regular season== In the first month of the season, the Oilers faced adversity on multiple fronts, on and off the ice. First, goaltender Grant Fuhr underwent an emergency appendectomy in training camp that would keep him sidelined for several weeks. Backup goaltender Bill Ranford would start the season in his place. Next, forward Jimmy Carson, the team's leading goal scorer from the previous year, abruptly left the team after the 4th game of the season and demanded a trade. Among his reasons, Carson found the pressure of replacing Wayne Gretzky, the player he was traded for, impossible to play under. In addition, Carson, who grew up in Michigan with an affluent family, did not enjoy life in the city of Edmonton, which was nearing the end of a crushing recession. Finally, the Oilers granted Carson's wish and dealt him to his hometown Detroit Red Wings. In return, The Oilers received forwards Petr Klima, Joe Murphy and Adam Graves, and defenceman Jeff Sharples from Detroit. Finally, in the Oilers' fifth game of the season, at home against the Los Angeles Kings, Wayne Gretzky broke the all time NHL points record held by Gordie Howe; watching Gretzky celebrate the milestone was tough on his former Oilers' teammates, who felt they should have been the ones celebrating with him. These incidents, combined with weak defensive play and penalty killing, combined to put the Oilers on a slide early in the season, and they reached the quarter-mark of the season with a 6-9-5 record, which sat them in last place in the Smythe Division. To make matters worse, Fuhr, who returned from his appendectomy, injured his shoulder and was sidelined again. The one bright spot on the team was forward Mark Messier, who sat 2nd in the NHL in points at the 20 game mark and would battle all season with Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman for the Art Ross Trophy. Then, buoyed by the formation of the line of Martin Gelinas, Graves, and Murphy, the Oilers embarked on a run where they lost only once in 13 games. While many of their offensive stars were not scoring as they did in previous seasons, the Oilers succeeded by playing an all-around game, and overtook the slumping Calgary Flames for first place in the division. The Oilers' record over their next twenty games was 15-3-2, and they finished the halfway point of the season with a record of 21-12-7, good for second place in the entire NHL behind the Buffalo Sabres. Messier continued his stellar play in all areas of the ice, and was considered to be one of two favourites for the Hart Trophy along with Bruins' captain Ray Bourque. At the 41st NHL All Star Game in Pittsburgh, three players represented the Oilers: Messier, Kevin Lowe, and Jari Kurri. Lowe was voted in as a starter by the fans, the last time to date that the Oilers had a player voted into the starting lineup via fan balloting. As the second half of the season got underway, the Oilers entered a mid-season slump. The team could not piece together any sort of meaningful winning streak, and finished the third quarter of the season with a record of 7-8-5, good enough for an overall season record of 28-20-12. One notable achievement came on January 2 in a game against the St. Louis Blues, where Jari Kurri scored the 1,000th point of his career. Another notable game occurred on January 25 at home against the Kings, where the Oilers fell behind 6-3 after 40 minutes. In the 3rd period, the Oilers mounted their biggest comeback of the regular season, scoring 4 goals en route to a 7-6 victory. Messier led the way with 4 assists in a performance that completely overshadowed Wayne Gretzky. Grant Fuhr was plagued by injury problems throughout the season and struggled to find his form, and was in net for a March 9 game against the Winnipeg Jets where the Oilers squandered a 4-0 first period lead and lost the game 7-5. Fuhr injured his shoulder shortly afterward and would miss a month with the injury. Ranford started most of the games during Fuhr's injury absences, but he too was injured by an errant stick in a game against the New Jersey Devils on February 6, forcing third string goaltender Pokey Reddick into service. The club also made use of minor league goalies Randy Exelby and Mike Greenlay at this time. On February 25, the Oilers lost to their provincial rivals, the Flames, by a lopsided score of 10-4. The loss put the Oilers in an unfriendly mood, and during their next game in Los Angeles on February 28, the teams combined for a then-NHL record 86 penalties, mostly in fighting majors, in a 4-2 Edmonton loss. Incidents in the game drew the ire of commentators, and even earned negative commentary from the NHL's head office.〔http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-03-02/sports/9001180390_1_referee-denis-morel-kings-right-wing-double-game-misconduct〕 In the second last game of the season against Calgary, Grant Fuhr re-injured his bad shoulder and would have to sit out for the entire playoffs. The team finished the last quarter of the season with a 10-8-2 record: the Oilers finished the season with a record of 38-28-14, good for 2nd place in the Smythe Division and 5th place overall in the NHL. Owing to the team's fierceness at varying points in the season, culminating with the brawl in Los Angeles, the Oilers were the most penalized team in the NHL for the first time in team history. Mark Messier finished second in the NHL scoring race; he finished with a career high 129 points (45 goals, 84 assists), 13 points behind Wayne Gretzky, 2 ahead of Steve Yzerman, and 6 ahead of Mario Lemieux (who missed 21 games with back injuries). Messier was the lone Oiler to break the 100-point barrier. Jari Kurri recorded 93 points (33 goals, 60 assists); it was Kurri's lowest point total in 8 seasons, but in keeping with the Oilers' new two way philosophy under coach John Muckler, Kurri finished with a +18, second highest among Oiler forwards. Craig Simpson provided some scoring, getting 29 goals and 61 points, and provided some toughness, leading the club with 180 penalty minutes. Veteran defenceman Randy Gregg led the team in plus-minus with a +24. In goal, Bill Ranford got the majority of starts, winning a club-high 24 games and having a 3.19 GAA. Grant Fuhr put together a 9–7–3 record with a 3.83 GAA despite being injured throughout the season. For the second consecutive year, the Oilers finished first in most short-handed goals scored, with 22. They were also the most penalized team in the league, being short-handed 417 times.〔http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1990.html〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1989–90 Edmonton Oilers season」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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