NHL Roundup : Gretzky Gives Himself Birthday Present

Wayne Gretzky celebrated his 24th birthday by breaking another NHL record Saturday night.

His hat trick in the Edmonton Oilers’ 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Edmonton was the 33rd of his career, which breaks the record he previously shared with Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders and the retired Phil Esposito.

“Once I got the second goal, I really wanted to get the 33rd hat trick,” Gretzky said. “I wanted to be the first to pass Esposito.”

The three-goal performance also gave him 52 goals in 49 games, marking the third season he has scored 50 goals in less than 50 games. Last year it took him 42 games to crack the 50-goal plateau and three seasons ago, he did it in a league-record 39.

Gretzky set the league record for most goals scored in a season in the 1981-82 season when he had 92 goals.

“The big thing Wayne Gretzky would like to do is score 100 goals in a season,” Gretzky said. “I know it sounds crazy but someone will score 100 goals in a season and I hope I’m the one that does it.”

Gretzky’s assist in the second period gave him 646 in his career, moving him ahead of Bobby Orr into 15th place among NHL career assist leaders.

Montreal 3, N.Y. Rangers 2--Mark Hunter poked in Rick Green’s rebound during a Montreal power play at 2:52 of the third period to give the Canadiens the win at Montreal.

Chris Nilan and Pierre Mondou also scored for the Canadiens, who held a 2-0 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the second period. But James Patrick and Pierre Larouche both scored in the last 90 seconds of the second period to tie it.

With the victory, the Canadiens increased their lead over the Quebec Nordiques in the Adams Division to five points. Montreal has played one more game.

Washington 5, N.Y. Islanders 1--The Capitals are emerging as the class team in the Patrick Division. This win at Uniondale, N.Y., was their sixth straight and their 12th in 14 games. It was also their 14th road victory, tying them with Edmonton for the league lead in that category.

“The way the Islanders have beaten us twice in the playoffs, and at times dominated us, it was nice to see us able to do the things we did tonight,” said Washington Coach Bryan Murray.

Minnesota 4, Detroit 4--Steve Payne deflected in Brian Bellows’ shot from the top of the faceoff circle at 16:03 of the third period to give the North Stars an overtime tie at Bloomington, Minn. The Red Wings had taken a 4-3 lead on Ron Duguay’s power-play goal at 10:15 of the third period.

Minnesota is now 1-2-9 in overtime games and Detroit is 0-1-7.

Chicago 5, Toronto 2--Steve Ludzik, Tom Lysiak and Steve Larmer each had a goal and an assist at Toronto to lead the Black Hawks.

Goals by Doug Wilson, Lysiak and Ken Yaremchuck during a 1:53 span midway through the second period gave the Black Hawks a 4-1 lead. Larmer, the Hawks’ leading scorer, scored his 31st goal at 9:35 of the third period to make it 5-1.

Calgary 6, Vancouver 2--The Flames increased their unbeaten streak to six games with this win at Calgary. They also increased their lead over the Winnipeg Jets to five points in the battle for second place in the Smythe Division.

Lanny McDonald and Kent Nilsson each had a goal and an assist to lead the Flames, who have now beaten the Canucks four times in five meetings this season.

Hartford 3, Boston 2--Mark Johnson scored three goals for his third career hat trick to lead the Whalers at Boston. The Whalers snapped a five-game losing streak.

Although outshot, 32-14, the Whalers defeated the Bruins for the third time in four meetings this season behind the goaltending of Greg Millen.

Johnson is a former Wisconsin All-American and a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team.