HOCKEY / STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS : Oilers Win, 4-1, Earn Chance to Get Even With Kings

Mark Lamb scored a breakaway goal late in the first period at Edmonton to put the Oilers ahead to stay as they defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1, Monday night, becoming only the seventh team in NHL history to win a playoff series after trailing by three games to one.

The Oilers, who blew a 3-1 lead and lost to the Kings in the Smythe Division semifinals last year, will get a chance to avenge that loss in the division finals beginning Wednesday night at the Northlands Coliseum.

Lamb took a pass from Glenn Anderson and beat Stephane Beauregard at 17:52 to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead. After a scoreless second period, Esa Tikkanen gave Edmonton a two-goal lead at 5:09 of the final period before Lamb set up Jari Kurri’s fourth goal of the series with 2:12 remaining.

Anderson gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead when he beat Beauregard, one of the Jets’ two rookie goaltenders, at 8:54 of the opening period. But Thomas Steen fired a wrist shot from the right wing past Bill Ranford 27 seconds later for the Jets’ lone goal.

Ranford stopped 26 of 27 shots.

The victory was the sixth for the Oilers in as many NHL playoff series with the Jets, who won only one of 19 games in the first five.

The Oilers were 4-2-2 against the Kings during the regular season. The two teams have not met since Feb. 28, when they brawled their way to 356 penalty minutes in Los Angeles’ 4-2 victory at the Forum.

Chicago 5, Minnesota 2--Wayne Presley and Jeremy Roenick each scored in the second period and the Blackhawks rolled to victory over the North Stars, winning their Norris Division semifinal series in seven games.

Chicago, the regular-season Norris Division champion, will open the division finals at home Wednesday night against the St. Louis Blues, who eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games.

Presley tied the score, 1-1, three minutes into the second period and put the Blackhawks ahead to stay at 4:06 with his fifth goal of the series. Both came from directly in front of goalie Jon Casey, the second on a short wrist shot during a delayed penalty.

Roenick knocked in his own rebound at 12:41 for a 3-1 lead, then scored again at at 14:06, giving him five goals for the series.

Goalie Greg Millen stopped 30 of 32 shots for Chicago.