NHL Roundup : Gretzky, in His Eighth Season, Is Off to Best Start Yet

There is no other athlete who dominates his sport the way Wayne Gretzky does hockey.

The best minds in the sport spend their time during the off-season devising plans to slow down the star center of the Edmonton Oilers. They have been trying for seven years and they haven’t come up with a solution.

Gretzky, starting his eighth NHL season at 25, is off to his best start.

The scoring machine set up two goals Sunday night at Edmonton in the Oilers’ 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. In 10 games, Gretzky has 8 goals and 20 assists for 28 points. Last season when he broke his own scoring record with 215 points, he had 24 points after 10 games.

There were many who thought that when Gretzky shattered the scoring records in 1981-82 with 212 points, it was a one-shot deal. How wrong they were. He has failed to score 200 or more points in only one season since (1982-83). That season he had 196.

His fastest start has not made the Oilers a better team. Last season after 10 games, the Oilers, on their way to the best record in the league, were 8-2. The win over the Canucks gave them a 6-4 record this season.

Jari Kurri scored twice on Gretzky assists and has eight goals in 10 games.

Philadelphia 4, Minnesota 1--Ron Hextall bounced back from his first NHL defeat to stop 29 shots at Philadelphia and enable the Flyers to improve their record to 7-1.

Hextall, who was beaten, 4-2, Saturday night at Pittsburgh, improved his record to 5-1. He has yielded only 11 goals in his six outings, by far the best of any goalie.

Hextall lost his shutout late in the second period when hot-shooting Dino Ciccarelli scored his 11th goal in eight games.

The goal cut the Philadelphia lead to 2-1. But before the third period was two minutes old, Lindsay Carson scored to give Hextall a two-goal margin.

It now seems certain that Hextall has beaten out Bob Froese for the No. 1 job. Last season Froese won the Vezina Trophy as best goaltender in the league.

New York Rangers 3, Toronto 3--Already, it is becoming a long season for the Rangers. In this game at New York, they extended their unbeaten string to six (2-0-4) by going into overtime for the seventh time in nine games.

Over the last two seasons, in 26 overtime games, the Rangers have won only once.

They appeared to have a victory in regulation, but Tom Fergus spoiled things by scoring his second goal of the game with just 2:57 left.

Boston 6, Calgary 0--Rookie goaltender Bill Ranford turned in a fantastic performance at Calgary to register his first NHL shutout.

Ranford, 20, had given up 16 goals in his other four starts, but he stopped 43 shots, 19 of them in the second period. Ranford made several saves on shots from close range.

It was the first time the Flames had been shut out at Calgary since Nov. 10, 1981.

Rick Middleton had a goal and an assist to provide Ranford with the help he needed.

Chicago 8, Winnipeg 4--Denis Savard and Curt Fraser each scored twice at Winnipeg to help the Blackhawks end a seven-game winless streak.

After opening the season with a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders, the Blackhawks lost five and tied two before routing the Jets.

Veteran goalie Murray Bannerman stopped 33 shots to gain his first victory after two losses and two ties.