ON THIS DAY

February 24, 1982 – Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky scored his seventy-seventh goal of the season, breaking the single-season NHL record held by Phil Esposito.

By the end of the game he had scored his seventy-ninth, and by the end of the season, his ninetysecond. Gretzky is the all-time leading scorer in the NHL with 2,857 points, and the only player to reach 2,000 career points. He was the leading scorer in six international tournaments, including all four Canada Cup tournaments in which he played.