The flipside? Obviously Back in Your Arms Again after the Oilers danced around the Coliseum with the Stanley Cup in their grasp Sunday night.

The National Hockey League's premier skating troupe finally exercised their option on a third Cup and exorcised the demons that hounded them since last spring's shocking fall to earth.

After an exhausting two-week battle with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Oilers cut their heart out, winning the seventh game in a true cardiac fitness test.

The wounded Flyers twice defied the gods to stay alive but the angels flew too close to the ground Sunday.

The Improbable Dream ended as their wings were clipped 3-1. Only one team in history (the '42 Leafs) has ever defied logic and pulled off a miracle comeback from such a deep hole in the championship round.

The Oilers let Philly dream in Technicolor with two heart-stopping wins to force a sudden-death game but they were finally put to sleep for good Sunday, although Flyer's goalie Ron Hextall kept the suspense going to the final three minutes.

This was one for the odometers as both clubs skated miles in an exhausting tour de force that was one of the great Stanley cup finals.

For the third time the cherished moment happened in the Oilers playground.

It was raucous party after Calgary Flames turned the lights out last spring, ending the Oilers two-year reign as Stanley Cup champions.

Retrieving the silver mug was a huge movement. It's like losing your house," said Charlie Huddy, "then working hard enough to get the money to get it back."

"I think everybody dreams of winning the Stanley Cup and to actually do it is a tremendous feeling," said Oiler center Wayne Gretzky. "But this one was the sweetest...we went through such a long summer. No question this was the biggest game I've every played. I knew it would be the greatest summer of my life or the worst. Now I can head to L.A. and watch some basketball, watch some other guys sweat.

This was a gut-wrenching final seven games of the season. The Flyers refused to go quietly or quickly into the night.

Until Glenn Anderson skipped a 30-footer through Hextall's pads in the dying minutes, the 17,502 fans were saying a thousand prayers.

"I'm extremely proud of this club. I couldn't ask for more from this wonderful group of athletes, a team that was decimated with injuries," said Flyers coach Mike Keenan.

"About half the team was hurt. We had four or five guys who shouldn't have played (Murray Craven, Ron Sutter, Dave Poulin, Make Howe, and Peter Zezel). But I don't want to dwell on that thought. That's only an excuse. They deserved game 7. They were the better club."

How much better?

"The way they played tonight they showed they are the world's best team," said Keenan. "That's a very nice compliment," said Gretzky. "The best team? Geez, I don't know. I've seen the Red Army play."

On this night though the Oilers came with a full-court press for 58 minutes, certainly after Craven beat Grant Fuhr with the Flyers enjoying a two-man powerplay advantage 101 seconds into the game.

They poured 43 shots at Hextall, who only ran out of gas when Anderson's goal beat him. "I think this proves that speed and offense and skating is the kind of hockey that wins," said Gretzky.

The Oilers had to overcome Hextall, though. "Best goalie I've ever faced," said Gretzky, "but then I've never faced Grant (Fuhr)."

Fuhr made two big stops in Doug Crossman in the first period, then watched the blitzkrieg in the last 40 minutes as the Oilers outshot Philly 25-8.

"Grant made some key saves when it was 1-0. That's a lot of pressure on a goalie. It they get one more to make it 2-0, maybe it's all over," said Oilers coach Glen Sather.

Mark Messier tied it eight minutes after Craven's goal on a great tic-tac-toe with Kent Nilsson and Anderson.

The line had it overdrive all night' only Messier had to gear down at the end when Randy Gregg smacked him on the left ankle with a shot. "The first five or 10 minutes (after getting hit) there was no feeling. I couldn't stand on my leg," said Messier.

"After a few minutes it came back though. I may have it X-rayed tomorrow to see if it's broken but I don't think it's just a bruise."

It certainly didn't stop Messier's dance around the Coliseum ice, as he threw his arms around everybody and his gloves into the seats.

"Messier was unbelievable. He was a force. He won it for them tonight," said Philly's Rick Tocchet.

The Oilers continued to turn up the heat in the second and finally burned Hextall when Jari Kurri whistled a 25-footer past his stick.

"Esa (Tikkanen) did a helluva job forechecking on Crossman. He had nowhere to go but to almost make a blind pass," said Kurri. Gretzky gobbled it up and Kurri hammered his 15th goal of the playoffs past the Flyers' rookie.

"I think Jari caught him off guard," said Gretzky.

The Oilers had three goalposts in the final frame before Anderson got the fans dancing on the ceiling.

Philly mustered just two shots on Fuhr in the final period. "They played a fabulous game. They didn't give us an opportunity to get any momentum," said Keenan. "No team has stifled us like they did. They put a lid on the game, it's a real credit to the way they checked."