Miracle On Manchester - Aftermath

Aftermath

Despite the major upset against the Oilers, the Kings were eliminated in the next round by the Vancouver Canucks, 4 games to 1, who went all the way to the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals, where they were swept by the New York Islanders in four games.

In the 1982–83 NHL season, the Oilers learned from their prior mistakes and ended up competing in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Islanders, but were swept in four games. The Oilers won the Stanley Cup in four of the next five seasons in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988; they would win one more in 1990.

The "Miracle on Manchester" would prove to be The Kings' only bright spot during the mid 1980s. The next two seasons continued the losing record trend that began in 1981 as they missed the playoffs completely. They met the Oilers in the playoffs again in 1985 and 1987, but this time the Kings were easily defeated. It wasn't until Wayne Gretzky was traded to Los Angeles for 1988-89 that the franchise turned around, as Gretzky led the Kings to an upset of the defending champions Oilers in 1989 after a 1-3 deficit. The Kings suffered second round eliminations in the playoffs to the Oilers in 1990 and 1991 while losing in the first round in 1992. In 1993, the Oilers failed to make the playoffs, while the Kings, led by Gretzky, made their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance in franchise history where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens in five games.

The Kings would have to wait almost twenty years to make their second appearance in the Finals. As the number eight seed in the Western Conference, the Kings played the New Jersey Devils in the 2011-12 Stanley Cup Finals, after dispatching the Presidents' Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks, the St. Louis Blues, and the Phoenix Coyotes, losing only two games in the first three rounds. The Kings won the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals in 6 games over the Devils to win their first Stanley Cup on June 11, 2012.