NHL Roundup : Gretzky Gets Goal, 3 Assists as Oilers Win, 6-3

Wayne Gretzky has hit his peak as the hockey season moves into the second half. Finally, he has brought the Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers into the swing with him.

Gretzky scored a goal and assisted on two others Saturday night to lead the Oilers to a 6-3 victory that ended the Montreal Canadiens’ 11-game unbeaten string at home.

In the three games since the Oilers reached the midpoint of the regular season, Gretzky has four goals and eight assists. However, in the first two games, the Oilers, giving up 16 goals, lost them both.

Gretzky has scored at least one point in each of the last 33 games and, with 116 points, is a cinch for another scoring title. Gretzky, who has 84 assists this season, will not be 25 until late this month, but he is already closing in on many career records in just 6 1/2 seasons.

He has 777 career assists in just 516 games. The all-time leader, Gordie Howe, had 1,049 in 1,767 games. He is 10th on the all-time scoring list. Barring injury, Gretzky figures to hold all the career offensive records, except possibly for goals, before he is 30.

Gretzky’s teammates have not been playing well lately. They were coming off an 11-9 loss to lowly Toronto and a 5-3 defeat by the Quebec Nordiques. After one period, they trailed the Canadiens, 1-0.

At intermission, Coach Glen Sather apparently blistered the Oilers, and they came out blazing in the second period.

They scored on four of their first five shots in the period. Gretzky assisted on two of the goals, and defenseman Paul Coffey scored two of them.

With the Oilers leading, 4-1, veteran Montreal defenseman Larry Robinson scored his 13th goal of the season to stem the rally.

In the last minute of the game, Gretzky put it out of reach with his 32nd goal.

Quebec 5, Toronto 1--After beating the two teams Coach Michel Bergeron considers the best in hockey, the Nordiques weren’t about to lose to the lowly Maple Leafs.

In this game at Toronto, the Nordiques won their seventh in a row by scoring four times in the last period to break open a tight battle.

Anton Stastny was involved in all four scores. He had two goals and two assists. He began the rally by breaking a 1-1 tie with a goal at 3:18. Four minutes later, he took a pass from brother Peter to make it 3-1.

That was easily enough for goaltender Clint Malarchuk. In winning his seventh in a row, Malarchuk stopped 37 shots.

After Marian Stastny, brother of Peter and Anton, scored at 7:35 of the first period for the Leafs, Malarchuk stopped the last 32 shots.

“In the last two weeks,” Bergeron said, “we have beaten the Red Army team and the Oilers. Those are the two best teams in the world. We must be pretty good.”

Boston 8, Winnipeg 4--Ken Linseman came off the injured list just in time to give the Bruins a needed lift. The veteran center missed five games because of a stress fracture in his hand.

Linseman had two assists as the Bruins improved their home record to 14-2-4. He also gave Coach Butch Goring two strong offensive lines.

In their previous home game, offense was lacking and the Bruins were trounced by St. Louis, 7-2.

But Linseman centered a line with Keith Crowder and Gord Kluzak, which produced three goals. For another line, Goring had Barry Pederson at center with Rick Middleton and Geoff Courtnall. This line accounted for three more goals.

Philadelphia 8, New Jersey 4--Tim Kerr and Mark Howe scored goals 11 seconds apart in the first period at East Rutherford, N.J., to get the Flyers in high gear early.

Kerr, getting a pass from Howe, scored his 36th to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead at 14:16. Shortly after the next face-off, Howe stole the puck and went in alone to score his 13th.

New York Islanders 8, Detroit 2--Bryan Trottier and John Tonelli reached milestones in this easy victory at Uniondale, N.Y.

Trottier scored his 400th goal and Tonelli his 200th, but it was two goals by Greg Gilbert in a four-goal second period that made it an easy victory for the Islanders.

Buffalo 3, Pittsburgh 3--Rookie defenseman Bob Halkidis scored his first NHL goal and assisted on the Sabres other two goals in this game at Pittsburgh.

Halkidis, playing his 17th game, sent the game into overtime with his goal at 12:04 of the third period.

Minnesota 5, Washington 3--Rookie goaltender Jon Casey stopped 41 shots at Bloomington, Minn., to lead the North Stars to victory. Dirk Graham scored the game-winner early in the last period.