1990 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 Total Edmonton Oilers 3*** 7 1 5 4 4 Boston Bruins 2*** 2 2 1 1 1
* – overtime periods
Location(s)	Boston: Boston Garden (1, 2, 5) Edmonton: Northlands Coliseum (3, 4)
Coaches	Edmonton: John Muckler Boston: Mike Milbury
Captains	Edmonton: Mark Messier Boston: Ray Bourque
Referees	Don Koharski (1, 4) Andy Van Hellemond (3, 5) Kerry Fraser (2)
Dates	May 15 – May 24
MVP	Bill Ranford (Oilers)
Series-winning goal	Craig Simpson (9:31, second, G5)
Hall of Famers	Oilers: Glenn Anderson (2008) Grant Fuhr (2003) Jari Kurri (2001) Kevin Lowe (2020) Mark Messier (2007) Bruins: Ray Bourque (2004) Cam Neely (2005)
Networks	Canada: (English): CBC (French): SRC United States: (National): SportsChannel America (Boston area): NESN (1–2, 5), WSBK (3–4)
Announcers	(CBC) Bob Cole and Harry Neale (SRC) Richard Garneau and Gilles Tremblay (SportsChannel America) Jiggs McDonald and Bill Clement (NESN) Fred Cusick, Derek Sanderson, and Dave Shea (WSBK) Fred Cusick and Derek Sanderson
← 1989 Stanley Cup Finals 1991 →

The 1990 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1989–90 season, and the culmination of the 1990 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Edmonton Oilers and the Boston Bruins; the Oilers won, four games to one. The series was a rematch of the 1988 Finals, albeit with the notable absence of Wayne Gretzky who was traded from Edmonton to the Los Angeles Kings during the 1988 off-season. For the Oilers, it was their fifth Cup win in seven years, and the team's only championship after trading Gretzky. This was the last of eight consecutive Finals contested by a team from Alberta and nine by a team from Western Canada (the Oilers appeared in six, the Calgary Flames in two, the Vancouver Canucks in one).

Paths to the Finals

Boston defeated the Hartford Whalers 4–3, the Montreal Canadiens 4–1 and the Washington Capitals 4–0 to advance to the Final.

Edmonton defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4–3, the Los Angeles Kings 4–0 and the Chicago Blackhawks 4–2.

Game summaries

In game one, Petr Klima scored at 15:13 of the third overtime period to give the Oilers a 3–2 win; this game remains the longest in Stanley Cup Finals history (see Longest NHL overtime games), edging both Brett Hull's Cup-winner in 1999 and Igor Larionov's game-winner in 2002 by less than 30 seconds.

Though the Oilers ultimately won the series in five games, it was the Bruins who dominated play during the early part of the series. The Bruins had more chances to win the opener, and at one point had a 15-4 shot advantage in game two before the Oilers came back.^[1]

In game five at the Boston Garden on May 24, the Oilers won 4–1, the first time they had ever clinched the Cup on the road. Edmonton won all three Finals games played at Boston Garden - in each their previous Finals wins, the Oilers only won one game away from Northlands Coliseum. Craig Simpson scored the game-winning goal. Oilers goaltender Bill Ranford, originally the backup who took over from Grant Fuhr for the remainder of the regular season and the entire playoffs, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Mark Messier won his first Stanley Cup as a team captain, and his fifth overall.^[2] He won his sixth Stanley Cup as the captain with the New York Rangers four years later, and scored the Cup-winning goal, making him the only player to captain two different Cup-winning teams.^[3][4]

Ray Bourque did not reach the Stanley Cup Finals again until the Colorado Avalanche won in 2001. As for the Bruins, they would not return to the Stanley Cup Finals until their championship season of 2011.^[5] The Oilers did not reach the Finals again until 2006, losing in seven games.

Boston Bruins vs. Edmonton Oilers

Team rosters

Years indicated in boldface under the "Finals appearance" column signify that the player won the Stanley Cup in the given year.

Boston Bruins

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
43		Bob Beers	D	R	1985	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	first
77		Ray Bourque – C	D	L	1979	Saint-Laurent, Quebec	second (1988)
25		Andy Brickley	LW	L	1988–89	Melrose, Massachusetts	first
12		Randy Burridge	LW	L	1985	Fort Erie, Ontario	second (1988)
42		John Byce	C	L	1985	Madison, Wisconsin	first
34		Lyndon Byers	RW	R	1982	Nipawin, Saskatchewan	second (1988)
11		Bobby Carpenter	C	L	1988–89	Beverly, Massachusetts	first
31		John Carter	LW	L	1985–86	Winchester, Massachusetts	first
27		Dave Christian	RW	R	1989–90	Warroad, Minnesota	first
37		Lou Crawford	LW	L	1989–90	Belleville, Ontario	first
16		Peter Douris	RW	R	1989–90	Toronto, Ontario	first
28		Garry Galley	D	L	1988–89	Greenfield Park, Quebec	first
18		Bobby Gould	RW	R	1989–90	Petrolia, Ontario	first
38		Greg Hawgood	D	L	1986	Edmonton, Alberta	second (1988)
23		Craig Janney – A	C	L	1986	Hartford, Connecticut	second (1988)
39		Greg Johnston	RW	R	1983	Barrie, Ontario	second (1988)
6		Gord Kluzak	D	L	1982	Climax, Saskatchewan	second (1988)
1		Rejean Lemelin	G	L	1987–88	Quebec City, Quebec	third (1986, 1988)
17		Nevin Markwart	LW	L	1983	Toronto, Ontario	second (1988)
35		Andy Moog	G	L	1987–88	Penticton, British Columbia	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
8		Cam Neely – A	RW	R	1986–87	Comox, British Columbia	second (1988)
10		Billy O'Dwyer	C	L	1987–88	Boston, Massachusetts	second (1988)
41		Allen Pedersen	D	L	1983	Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta	second (1988)
19		Dave Poulin	C	L	1989–90	Timmins, Ontario	third (1985, 1987)
36		Brian Propp	LW	L	1989–90	Lanigan, Saskatchewan	fourth (1980, 1985, 1987)
20		Bob Sweeney	C	R	1982	Concord, Massachusetts	second (1988)
32		Don Sweeney	D	L	1984	St. Stephen, New Brunswick	first
26		Glen Wesley	D	L	1987	Red Deer, Alberta	second (1988)
30		Jim Wiemer	D	L	1989–90	Sudbury, Ontario	first

Edmonton Oilers

#	Nat	Player	Position	Hand	Acquired	Place of birth	Finals appearance
9		Glenn Anderson	RW	L	1979	Vancouver, British Columbia	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
6		Jeff Beukeboom	D	R	1983	Ajax, Ontario	third (1987, 1988)
32		Dave Brown	RW	R	1988–89	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan	third (1985, 1987)
16		Kelly Buchberger	RW	L	1985	Langenburg, Saskatchewan	second (1987)
31		Grant Fuhr	G	R	1981	Spruce Grove, Alberta	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 - did not play: injured)
20		Martin Gelinas	LW	L	1988–89	Shawinigan, Quebec	first
12		Adam Graves	LW	L	1989–90	Toronto, Ontario	first
21		Randy Gregg	D	L	1981–82	Edmonton, Alberta	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
22		Charlie Huddy	D	L	1980–81	Oshawa, Ontario	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
85		Petr Klima	LW	R	1989–90	Chomutov, Czechoslovakia	first
17		Jari Kurri – A	RW	R	1980	Helsinki, Finland	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
7		Mark Lamb	C	L	1987–88	Ponteix, Saskatchewan	first
4		Kevin Lowe – A	D	L	1979	Lachute, Quebec	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
14		Craig MacTavish	C	L	1985–86	London, Ontario	third (1987, 1988)
11		Mark Messier – C	C	L	1979	Edmonton, Alberta	sixth (1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
28		Craig Muni	D	L	1986–87	Toronto, Ontario	third (1987, 1988)
30		Bill Ranford	G	L	1987–88	Brandon, Manitoba	second (1988)
33		Pokey Reddick	G	L	1989–90	Halifax, Nova Scotia	first
26		Reijo Ruotsalainen	D	R	1989–90	Oulu, Finland	second (1987)
25		Geoff Smith	D	L	1987	Edmonton, Alberta	first
5		Steve Smith	D	L	1981	Glasgow, United Kingdom	third (1987, 1988)
10		Esa Tikkanen	LW	L	1983	Helsinki, Finland	fourth (1985, 1987, 1988)

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1990 Stanley Cup was presented to Oilers captain Mark Messier by NHL President John Ziegler following the Oilers 4–1 win over the Bruins in game five.

The following Oilers players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup

1989–90 Edmonton Oilers

Players

Stanley Cup engravings

• Garnet "Ace" Bailey won seven Stanley Cups. His name was engraved on the Stanley Cup five times. He was engraved as Garnet Bailey in 1972, G. Bailey in 1970, 1985, 1987, and Ace Bailey in 1990. His name was left off the Stanley Cup, but he was awarded Stanley Cup rings in 1984, 1988.
• #29 Vladimir Ruzicka (C/LW) joined Edmonton from Europe in January. Ruzicka played 25 games, but did not dress in the playoffs.
• #19 Anatoli Semenov (RW) joined Edmonton from Europe in May. Semenov played two games in the Conference Final.

Neither player qualified for engravement on the Cup, but both players received Stanley Cup rings. Ruzicka was also included on the team winning picture.

• Grant Fuhr only played 21 games during the regular season due to injuries. Although he would miss the rest of the regular season and the entire playoffs, he qualified to be on the Cup by dressing for over 40 regular season games.

Members of all five Edmonton Oilers championships

• Glenn Anderson, Grant Fuhr, Randy Gregg, Charlie Huddy, Jari Kurri, Kevin Lowe, Mark Messier (seven Players), Peter Pocklington, Glen Sather, John Mucker, Ted Green, Barry Fraser, Barry Stafford, Lyle Kulchisky (seven non-players)
• Nine non-players were part of all five championships, but not all engraved each year: Garnet 'Ace' Bailey, Ed Chadwick, Lorne Davis, Matti Vaisanen, Gordon Cameron, Bill Tuele, John Backwell, Werner Baum, and Bob Freedman

Members of all five Edmonton Oilers championships and New York Rangers championship (1994)

• Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe and Mark Messier.

Broadcasting

In Canada, the series was televised on the CBC.

In the United States, the series aired nationally on SportsChannel America. However, SportsChannel America's national coverage was blacked out in the Boston area due to the local rights to Bruins games in that TV market. NESN televised games one, two, and five in the Boston area while WSBK had games three and four.