Taylor Hall breaks Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton record for fastest goals

By scoring two goals in eight seconds against the New York Islanders on Thursday, the Oilers’ Taylor Hall did several things:

1. Put himself in position to become a future “Jeopardy!” answer.

2. Forced a rewrite job -- OK, a slight modification -- to Edmonton’s record book by eclipsing one of Wayne Gretzky’s records. Gretzky scored twice in nine seconds 32 years ago in what ended up a 9-2 rout of the St. Louis Blues. He went on to score five goals in that one.

3. At 21, became the youngest player in the NHL to score two goals in eight seconds or less since Deron Quint scored twice in four seconds in 1995. Quint, then 19, did it as a rookie for the Winnipeg Jets against the Oilers at the old Winnipeg Arena:

(Quint, incidentally, is still playing hockey. At age 37, he is with Spartak Moscow of the KHL.)

Hall’s goals came against Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov in the first period. And the Oilers, unlike the Gretzky Oilers against the Blues, ended up losing to the Islanders, 3-2.

Gretzky always has a feeling for the big moment, the ability to do the right thing at the right time.

And this was no exception, he called Hall after the game, according to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. Gretzky told Matheson: “My records, they’re there to be broken.”

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