Gretzky, Kurri Will Be Reunited Tonight : For Eight Seasons They Were Teammates; Now They’re Opponents

Give Jari Kurri an assist on the all-time scoring record that Wayne Gretzky is going to set any day now.

Record it in the Official Guide and Record Book of the National Hockey League the way it happened.

Individual records, career, most points: Wayne Gretzky (assist to Jari Kurri).

After all, that’s the way so many of Gretzky’s goals were recorded. Or it was Jari Kurri (Wayne Gretzky). One or the other. Either Gretzky scored the goal on a pass from Kurri, or Kurri scored the goal on a pass from Gretzky.

They played on the same line for most of the eight seasons that they both played for the Edmonton Oilers, Kurri sharing in 630 of Gretzky’s 1,669 points.

That number is still more than one-third of Gretzky’s points, although Gretzky’s total is up to 1,838.

Many players have had a role in Gretzky’s getting all those points, but no one had as much effect as Kurri.

So, does Kurri feel some pride in the record Gretzky is about to claim?

“I hope so!” Kurri said. “It’s the kind of thing that when you finish hockey and you look back, you will be able to say that you were a part of it.”

Kurri has been there before. In March 1988, when Gretzky set the all-time assist record in a game against the Kings, the assist came on a goal by Kurri.

After getting that record, Gretzky said: “I guess the quickest thought that came to my mind was that I was glad it was Jari. He’s meant a lot to my career, but sometimes he takes a little heat for playing with me.”

Kurri would like to be there when Gretzky gets point No. 1,851 to become the National Hockey League’s all-time leading scorer.

Going into tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oilers at the Forum, Gretzky still needs 13 to break the record.

“I don’t think we’ll see it (tonight),” Kurri said. “We might see it in Edmonton. The way we have it figured, it will be Edmonton.”

Like everyone else, the Oilers have been plotting this course.

King fans want Gretzky to break the record by next Wednesday, when the Kings play the New York Islanders in the last game of this four-game home stand. The Kings’ fifth game is at Vancouver and their sixth game is at Edmonton.

Kurri thinks Edmonton would be a fine place for the record to be set.

“Definitely, it would be nice to be in the same building when it happens, and the fans in Edmonton would like that,” Kurri said. “It will be a big night for everyone. It will be exciting.”

There is already a 7-foot bronze statue of Gretzky outside that arena. No need for much else to commemorate the happening.

But when Kurri says he would like to be in the building, he is speaking as a hockey fan, as a longtime close friend of Gretzky.

As a player, though, would Kurri like to be on the team that gives up Gretzky’s record-setting point?

Will most teams redouble their efforts to try to stop him?

“I don’t think we can do that,” Kurri said. “I think we just have to play our own game. We will be trying to win the game. We can’t be thinking about how many points he has.”

And Gretzky can’t be worrying about where he does it or who’s on the ice.

Gretzky struggled last season to think of the Oilers as the other guys after all those years and all those Stanley Cups. And every time he ticked off the names of those who would always be his friends, Jari Kurri was right up there.

When he talked about adjusting to a new team, he often mentioned the difference in playing with new mates when he was so in sync with Kurri.

Interestingly, during the Kings’ training camp in Hull last month Gretzky settled into a line that had Mike Krushelnyski on his left (Krushelnyski was on his line in Edmonton for three years) and Mikael Lindholm on his right.

Lindholm is from Sweden and plays what Gretzky calls “the European style.” He can’t list a lot of comparisons between Lindholm and Kurri, who is from Finland, except to say that they both play that wide-open, quick-passing style that, as Gretzky says, “Lets the puck do the work. The puck is faster than you are.”

That style puts an emphasis on teamwork, on being able to anticipate where a linemate is going, feel what he’s going to do, know his move.

It takes time. And while Gretzky has been free with his praise of the rookie, he has never denied that he misses playing with Kurri.

Does Kurri miss Gretzky?

With a laugh, Kurri said: “I can’t think about that. We’re on different teams now. The years I played with him were very good. I remember how nervous I was at first, and he made you relax. He made you a better player. It was an honor to know him on and off the ice . . .

“He and I do work together pretty well.”

King Notes

The Kings have brought up Carl Repp from their affiliate in New Haven on emergency recall because backup goalie Mario Gosselin has the flu.