Gretzky Injured; Blues Lose

When Wayne Gretzky made a weak move on goal on a St. Louis power play in the second period, he knew it was time to sit down. Power plays are a major reason Gretzky has more points than anyone in NHL history.

Gretzky joined a long list of black-and-blue Blues on Thursday night, and St. Louis lost a 3-1 decision to Toronto at home. The Maple Leafs’ Mike Gartner had a goal and an assist.

The Blues began the game without goalie Grant Fuhr, who sat out his second game in a row after playing in 76 consecutive games, Brett Hull and Shayne Corson. All are nursing various injuries. Gretzky joined the list when he limped off the ice at 8:35 of the second period.

He will be sidelined a week to 10 days because of a lower-back injury suffered when he was dumped to the ice by a Doug Gilmour check in the first period.

Gretzky sat out a few shifts in the second period and then came off the ice for good after his poor effort on a shot against Felix Potvin, who made one of the easier of his 39 saves on the play.

“A lot of times you get hit and you kind of play through it,” Gretzky said. “You get in the heat of the battle and the pain goes away until after the game.”

Not this time.

“I really couldn’t push off and when I took the shot I had no strength,” Gretzky said.

Gilmour said he didn’t know quite what happened.

“I wasn’t really moving and he wasn’t really moving,” Gilmour said. “I kind of pushed him and he went back.”

Gretzky has eight goals and 13 assists in 17 games since joining the Blues in a trade from the Kings.

Toronto is two points behind the Blues for fourth place in the Western Conference and home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

The Blues are 1-5-2 in their last eight games.

OTHER GAMES

Nelson Emerson scored for Hartford, which nudged New Jersey closer to becoming the first Stanley Cup champion since the Montreal Canadiens 26 years ago to miss the playoffs the next season by defeating the Devils, 1-0, at East Rutherford, N.J. . . . Mario Lemieux broke a tie with his second goal of the game, with 1:55 to play at Pittsburgh, which beat Washington, 4-2, and ended its seven-game unbeaten streak (4-0-3). . . . Saku Koivu scored a short-handed goal with 25 seconds to play to earn Montreal a 3-3 tie at Boston. . . . Eric Lindros scored twice for the Flyers, who beat the New York Rangers, 4-1, at Philadelphia. . . . Darren Turcotte scored his second goal of the game with 58 seconds to play for the Sharks, who took a four-goal lead in the first period, then hung on to beat Edmonton, 5-3, at San Jose.

NHL Notes

Cam Neely, who has been sidelined the last 21 Boston Bruin games, says he will need an artificial hip when he retires and that time may have arrived. . . . Goalie Bill Ranford, who revived the Bruins’ playoff hopes after coming to Boston in January, left Thursday night’s game because of a leg injury after making an awkward save.