Wayne Gretzky and the game when he leapfrogged Gordie Howe in scoring and became the most productive player in NHL history

It is one of the most memorable moments in NHL history, when “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky scored his 1,851st point in the regular season and became the most productive player in NHL history. October 15, 1989 is still written in golden letters in the annals of the NHL.

Gretzky and his memorable game that changed the annals of the NHL

Wayne Gretzky entered the home game on the Los Angeles Kings side one point behind legend Gordie Howe. Very iconically, the Kings welcomed the Edmonton Oilers, the club of Gretzky’s heart, where he was a member for 9 seasons and celebrated winning the Stanley Cup with them four times.

He managed to set records with that team that still stand to this day. For example, the most goals in a season (92), breaking the 200-point mark in a season (even 4 times!) and the most assists in a season (163). All are still valid NHL records today, which he set more than 60.

This duel took place right at the beginning of the 1989/90 season, on October 15. The Los Angeles Kings eventually defeated the Edmonton Oilers (5: 4), so the ”Kings” team celebrated their king.

LA acquired Gretzky surprisingly a season earlier at the break, which was dubbed the trey of the century. It was a shock to everyone that Wayne was changing venues. The duels against Edmonton were all the more iconic for Wayne.

Breaking Gordie Howe’s record

Gretzky evened the score in the fifth minute of the first period when he passed the puck for the game’s opening goal. After that, the crowd eagerly awaited to see when Gordie’s record would fall, and indeed it did.

The glorious moment came with 53 seconds left in the game when Gretzky scored to tie the game at (4: 4). Gretzky needed only 780 games to reach that mark compared to Howe’s 1,767.

The game, of course, broke at that point. The famous ceremony began. Howe himself was among the congratulators. To make matters worse, it was Gretzky who decided the overtime with his second goal of the game.

After this duel, he spent 10 more seasons in the famous NHL, when he managed to record another thousand points and set the bar in historical scoring, goals and assists, which for ordinary “deathers” will be hard to beat.

One of the greatest NHL leaders Mark Messier (1887 points) and Czech legend Jaromir Jagr (1921) also surpassed Howe’s mark. However, Wayne set an absolutely unbeatable bar of 2,857 points on 894 goals and 1,963 assists.

Source: NHL History, ESPN, Wikipedia