Milestone for Gretzky, Loss for Kings : Hockey: He gets 2,000th point with an assist on Sandstrom’s goal. Kings’ five-game win streak ends with 6-2 defeat by Winnipeg.

Wayne Gretzky couldn’t bear to look.

It was late in the first period Friday night of a game the Kings would eventually lose to the Winnipeg Jets, 6-2.

Gretzky, who had taken the ice with a career total of 1,999 points, had just received the puck from Marty McSorley.

Standing in the right circle in his own zone, Gretzky spotted linemate Tony Granato free at mid-ice.

Gretzky whipped him the puck with the speed and crispness that had already earned him 1,315 assists and 684 goals in his 12-year NHL career.

Granato never hesitated when he saw that Tomas Sandstrom was ahead of two defenders and skating furiously down the slot.

The puck got to Sandstrom well ahead of the defensemen.

Sandstrom was alone, racing toward the crease with only goalie Bob Essensa standing between him and Gretzky’s unprecedented 2,000th point.

That’s when Gretzky dropped his eyes to the ice. He already had enough false alarms. He couldn’t watch another.

Granato stood at mid-ice praying.

“I was thinking, please put it home, Tom,” Granato said. “It would be nice to get it behind us. It would be nice not to have to feel bad anymore for the shots we missed that could have given it (2,000 points) to him.”

This one didn’t miss, Sandstrom ramming the puck between Essensa’s pads.

“When I looked up,” Gretzky said later, a grin on his face, “the puck was in the back of the net.”

And Gretzky was back in the record book with yet another seemingly unattainable mark.

Last year, he broke Gordie Howe’s NHL record by scoring his 1,851st point.

And now this. Two thousand career points.

“My part was not a big thing,” Sandstrom said. “He got 1,999 points without me.”

Gretzky can still remember his first, back in the 1979-80 season when he was an Edmonton Oiler.

“I made a pass out of the corner to Kevin Lowe,” he recalled. “He fired at the net and beat Tony Esposito. It was in Chicago.”

Obviously, Gretzky never dreamed that 1,999 more points would follow.

“I remember thinking that night after the game that it would be nice just to stay and play in the NHL,” Gretzky said. “I think all kids think about that.”

Gretzky will long think about Friday night, but he doesn’t rate it as his greatest moment on ice.

“You don’t compare anything to your first Stanley Cup,” he said. “Individually, I would rate breaking Gordie Howe’s record and this the highest.”

But he admitted breaking Howe’s record was a bigger thrill than Friday night.

For one thing, it was more dramatic. Gretzky broke the record by scoring a game-tying goal against his former team, the Oilers, in Edmonton with 53 seconds to play. He then won the game with an overtime goal.

“That was a more important goal,” he said. “And that was different. I was chasing somebody else. Now, I’m chasing myself.”

What’s next, 3,000?

“When I got my 1,000th point,” he said, “I told people, 1,500 was reachable, but 2,000 was out of the question. Now, I say 2,500 is reachable, but 3,000 is out of the question.”

Not necessarily, considering Gretzky is 29.

While Friday was a night for Gretzky and the Winnipeg Arena crowd of 15,566 to remember, it was a game the Kings would like to forget.

They already trailed, 2-0, when Gretzky reached the 2,000 plateau 14:32 into the game, thanks to Winnipeg goals by Phil Housley and Fredrik Olausson, the third of the season for each.

Before it was over, Pat Elynuik, Phil Sykes, Randy Carlyle and Paul Fenton would also score.

This was the first of a six-game trip for the Kings, who have been on one of the hottest season-opening streaks in club history.

But after Gretzky’s moment, they faded faster than Buster Douglas.

When it was over, so was their five-game winning streak, their six-game unbeaten streak, their unbeaten record on the road, and their chance to equal the 8-1-1 start of the 1980-81 team, the best start in club history.

Instead, the Kings fall to 7-2-1, their record on the road dropping to 1-1, but they remain on top of the Smythe Division by one point over the Calgary Flames.

For the Jets, it was their third victory in a row, after losing six in a row, to improve to 4-6-1.

Essensa was making his third start in goal after recuperating from a pulled groin muscle, suffered in the exhibition season. In all, he faced 27 shots, making several brilliant saves.

Kelly Hrudey had a much tougher night in the Kings’ net, giving up six goals on 26 shots.

But the only number that most people will remember from this night is 2,000.

“Before the game, a couple of us were sitting around in the clubhouse wondering if any of us had 2,000 points in our whole life, including youth hockey,” Granato said. “I know I don’t. And I don’t think any of the others do either.”

And it may well be that no one will ever again score 2,000 in the NHL.

King Notes

The other Kings’ goal was scored by Bob Kudelski, his seventh. . . . No Gretzky, No telecast: Originally, Prime Ticket had planned to televise Friday’s game. Subsequently, it was scrubbed when the telecast schedule was revised. But when it became clear this would be the night that Wayne Gretzky would probably reach the 2,000 mark, the game was hastily put back on the schedule.

NHL LEADING SCORERS

Since 1927. x-active

Player Goals Assists Points 1.x-Wayne Gretzky 684 1316 2000 2.Gordie Howe 801 1049 1850 3. Marcel Dionne 731 1040 1771 4. Phil Esposito 717 873 1590 5. Stan Mikita 541 926 1467 6. John Bucyk 556 813 1369 7. x-Bryan Trottier 502 854 1356 8. x-Guy Lafleur 551 781 1332 9. Gilbert Perreault 512 814 1326 10. Alex Delvecchio 456 825 1281