Klima dies at 58, scored in 3rd OT for Oilers in 1990 Cup Final

Petr Klima, a retired NHL forward whose goal in the third overtime gave the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the 1990 Stanley Cup Final, died Thursday. He was 58.

Klima's goal at 15:13 ended the longest game in the history of the Final, one that was delayed for 26 minutes by a power outage. He was benched for long stretches earlier in the game before beating Bruins goalie Andy Moog in the opening game of the best-of-7 series won by the Oilers in five games en route to their only NHL championship in the post-Wayne Gretzky era.

"He was a dangerous offensive player," said Kevin Lowe, a defenseman on the Oilers' 1990 team. "He would have probably more suited for today's games. The rules are a little more tailored to creating offense and allowing the offensive guys to do things. He could really skate and really shoot. He was a bit of a square peg in a round hole for us for a little while. We had a little bit more of a blue-collar team by that time, but he scored one of the biggest goals in Oilers history."

Chosen by the Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round (No. 86) of the 1983 NHL Draft, Klima was part of a Red Wings draft class that included future Hockey Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman, current New York Islanders coach Lane Lambert, and Bob Probert and Joey Kocur. Klima had 56 points (32 goals, 24 assists) in 74 games as a rookie, and was traded to the Oilers with Adam Graves, Joe Murphy and Jeff Sharples on Nov. 2, 1989, for Jimmy Carson, Kevin McClelland and a fifth-round pick in the 1991 NHL Draft.

"He was highly acclaimed in Detroit and got thrown in that unbelievable deal that [then-GM Glen Sather] made. We got Adam Graves, Joe Murphy and Klima essentially for Jimmy Carson, which was pretty amazing," said Lowe, who played for the Oilers from 1979-1992 and then from 1996-97. "What I remember him as a player, he was really light on his skates. He had a lot of quickness; he was a quick skater and I remember he had that candy cane-taped stick up the shaft, and he had that crazy-looking helmet. He stood out a little bit, but he was a good player."

Klima played the final two seasons of his NHL career for the Oilers and Red Wings and retired from the League after playing 13 games in 1998-99. He had 573 points (313 goals, 260 assists) in 786 games for Detroit, Edmonton, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins and 52 points (28 goals, 24 assists) in 95 Stanley Cup Playoff games. In 1985, he was the first player born in the former Czechoslovakia to defect straight to an NHL team since brothers Peter, Anton and Marian Stastny joined the Quebec Nordiques in 1980 and 1981.

Klima, Jari Kurri (Game 2, 1990) and Fernando Pisani (Game 5, 2006) are the three players who have scored an OT goal for the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final. His 25-year-old twin sons, Kelly and Kevin, play in the Czech Extraliga, the top hockey league in the Czech Republic.

"He was a good guy," Lowe said. "Those guys that came over from those countries were a little less appreciated then, they had to work hard to gain respect. He wasn't a grinder, he was a pure skill guy. He really was a happy guy and loved to have a good time and loved to play the game."

NHL.com staff writer Derek Van Diest contributed to this report