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We’re all thinking, ‘Another day, another Wayne Gretzky record.’ In this series alone, we have covered no fewer than eight of these record-setting days. On one particular date, March 29, Gretzky beat out two NHL greats and tied another. Early in his career, in 1981, he matched Bobby Orr’s record for most assists in a season after breaking Phil Esposito’s record for most points scored in a season. At the end of his playing career, in 1999, Gretzky scored his final goal to top Gordie Howe’s record of most goals scored during a career in both the WHA and NHL. 

1981

Gretzky closed out March 1981 with highlights in back-to-back road games. On Saturday, he and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Red Wings at Detroit 4-2. No. 99 made his 99th assist by passing to Risto Siltanen. The time was 1:52 pm, and it was Gretzky’s 152nd point of the season. He had tied Esposito’s record number of points from the 1970-71 season. The retiring 39-year-old recalled that record-setting season. “When I did that, I thought nobody would ever get more than that total. I remember when I did it some people were bitter. They wanted to cheapen it (it was a 12-team league then, not six).” Esposito continued, “Gretzky has far more ability than I had. … I got my points because I was with one helluva hockey team. Gretzky gets his because he is the Edmonton Oilers.”

The following day, Gretzky proved Esposito’s point. The Oilers had moved on to Pittsburgh, where they defeated the Penguins 5-2 for a crowd of 12,966. Gretzky assisted on the first and the final two goals. He earned his 100th assist of the season at 3:07 of the second period “on a typical Gretzky move, a dash around the net and a goal-mouth feed to [Mark] Messier.” Gretzky merely commented, “It was nice to get an assist like that … it was maybe better than getting in on a scramble.” His 101st assist came as Brett Callighen “banked a 30-foot shot off Penguin defenceman Ron Stackhouse,” and the 102nd happened in the final 69 seconds when “he sent [Jari] Kurri away on a breakaway with the net empty.” This final assist tied Orr’s 1970-71 record for most assists in a single season.

The first of these assists gave Gretzky his 153rd point, enough to eclipse Esposito’s record and become “the greatest single-season point producer of all time.” From Gretzky’s analytical point of view, “I’m happy and relieved to get it over with. Before this season started, I just wanted to improve on my statistics (137 points) of last year, and I thought if I could, then we would win more hockey games.” He had aimed to get two points per game and was averaging 2.01 per game. When Esposito set his record in 1970-71, he only averaged 1.96 goals per game. 

In recognition, the crowd gave Gretzky a standing ovation after Messier scored, and goalie Greg Millen gave him the puck. Millen had played in juniors with Gretzky and remarked, “He did some amazing things in junior, but nobody dreamed he would do this much in the NHL so fast. He’s probably not surprised, but I am.” Gretzky’s father, Walter Gretzky, gushed, “The first time I got really excited was when he tied the record in Detroit, and now this tops it. This is the proudest moment of my life. I never dreamed it would happen.”

By the end of the 1980-81 season, Gretzky had 109 assists and 164 points. He still holds the seasonal records for both categories, though this season’s totals have dropped to tenth. Gretzky eclipsed his own records eight times. The only person to surpass the 1980-81 records has been Mario Lemieux, but he never came close to Gretzky’s own stunning top season in 1985-86 (with 163 assists and 215 points). The records of the two Bruins teammates from 1970-71 have slipped to 13th for Orr’s 102 assists and 15th for Esposito’s 152 points. 

1999

At the time of the 1981 record-setting, Terry Jones wondered, “The only question left was: could the Great Gretzky survive the test of time. And become the Greatest?” The answer became a resounding yes in 1999, when Gretzky scored his final professional goal, which gave him a total exceeding Howe’s by one.

A couple weeks after Gretzky tied Howe’s total on February 4th, Howe (who was going on vacation) called to preemptively offer congratulations on breaking his record. Gretzky joked to him, “Gordie, how long are you going to be gone? We could be tied when you get back.” The issue was that Gretzky had to take a month off to recover from a herniated disc in his neck.

Before the game at Madison Square Garden on March 29, Gretzky had a feeling it was time and made arrangements for a celebratory lunch with some teammates. However, Coach John Muckler switched up the lines and put Gretzky as left wing to Petr Nedved at center. Gretzky explained, “Originally, this morning, I was slated to play in the middle. John and I talked about it. I like to play more behind the net and Petr’s been playing well.” So, Gretzky volunteered, “I’ll line up on the left side.”’ When Nedved left the game with an injury halfway through the opening period, Gretzky returned to center.

By the end of the second period, the Rangers and the Islanders were tied 1-1. At 17:53 with 2:07 left in regulation, Gretzky “became the most prolific goal-scorer in professional hockey history.” After his “initial shot was stopped,” Gretzky “strained to reach the rebound of his own shot that was sitting in the crease, beyond the reach of Isles goalie Wade Flaherty, who was sitting on his padded shorts, unable to stop him.” He succeeded in scoring a “slow-motion game-winner.” Gretzky simply said, “It was a nice goal at a nice time.” He elaborated further later, “It was a goal I’ll probably never forget. The thing that makes professional sports so great is that everybody likes to sit around and talk about it. … This is a record that won’t be in the books, but (it’s) for people to sit around and talk about.”

After a standing ovation and a quick wave to the crowd, the game moved on. “The fans were so nice to me. It was quite an ovation,” thanked Gretzky. They had good reason to cheer. The goal was the 1,072nd of his professional career, having scored 894 goals in the NHL, 46 in the WHA, and another 132 during playoffs. When Howe retired, he had 801 regular-season NHL goals, 174 regular-season WHA goals, and 106 playoffs goals for a total of 1,071.

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