and forced a seventh game; at the end, the Flyers team surrounded Hextall in congratulation and the Oilers player Kevin Lowe said that Hextall "held them in it". Between the sixth and seventh games, the Oilers' forward Wayne Gretzky described Hextall as "probably the best goaltender I've ever played against in the NHL." Edmonton won the final game of the series to take the Stanley Cup. Robin Finn, writing in The New York Times, said that the team won the title "without their trademark, those endless waves of madcap scoring", primarily due to the "heroics of Hextall". Flyers teammate Rick Tocchet said that when he realised his side were going to lose, his "first thought was to feel sorry for Ronny Hextall, because he did everything he could to get us here and keep us in it." Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player in the playoffs, becoming only the fourth player from a losing side to be awarded the trophy. During the off-season, Hextall received an eight-game suspension for the start of the 1987–88 season after his slash on Nilsson. Speaking on behalf of the NHL, Brian O'Neill said that: "There is no justification for any player to swing his stick in retaliation and this is especially the case for a goaltender whose stick, because of its weight, can cause serious injury." The Flyers had a difficult start to the 1987–88 season, partly attributed by Keenan to the absence of Hextall. Hextall returned to the Flyers line-up against the New York Rangers, and made over 40 saves in a 2–2 tie. Just over a month later, on December 8, 1987, Hextall became the first goaltender to shoot at goal and score in the NHL when he scored an empty net goal towards the end of a game against the Boston Bruins. The Flyers led 4–2 which prompted the Bruins to pull their goaltender in favour of an extra attacker. The puck was dumped into the Philadelphia zone by the Bruins, and Hextall picked it up without any players near him; his shot fired into the air, bounced and rolled into the net. Hextall had targeted becoming the "first NHL goaltender to score a true goal" over a year earlier, and, speaking after the game, commented that: "I knew I could do it. It was a matter of when." Despite his early season suspension, and