When Wayne Gretzky scored five goals in a match for the first time

In the history of the NHL, Wayne Gretzky has been deemed the greatest player of all time.

Wayne Gretzky scored five goals for the first time in his NHL career to help the Edmonton Oilers to a 9-2 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Northlands Coliseum.

The 20-year-old center broke a 2-2 tie at 4:44 of the second period against Mike Liut. He then blew the game open in the third period by scoring four times in less than eight minutes.

It was Gretzky's first of four five-goal games in the NHL. He also became the league's youngest player to score at least three goals in a game five times before the age of 21. After exactly eight years, Gretzky scored seven points (two goals, five assists) as the Los Angeles Kings defeated Quebec Nordique 11-3 at the Forum in Inglewood, California, giving him 1,800 points in 754 NHL games.

Wayne Gretzky’s other achievements

Wayne played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four different teams from 1979 to 1999. He was dubbed "The Great One" by many sportswriters, players, The Hockey News, and the NHL itself. Gretzky is the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer, assist producer, and point scorer. He has more assists in his career than any other player.

He is the only NHL player who has scored more than 200 points four times in a single season. Furthermore, Gretzky scored 100 points or more in 14 of his 16 professional seasons, 14 of which were consecutive. He retired in 1999 with 61 NHL records, 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records.

Wayne Gretzky, who was born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, honed his skills in a backyard rink and regularly competed in minor hockey at a level far above his peers. Gretzky's intelligence, stamina, and game reading were unrivaled, despite his unimpressive size and strength. He was skilled at dodging opposing players' checks and consistently anticipated where the puck would be and executed the right move at the right time. Gretzky became known for setting up behind his opponent's net, dubbed "Gretzky's office."

Wayne Gretzky led the World Junior Championships in scoring in 1978. He signed with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) in June 1978, where he played briefly before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers. When the WHA folded, the Oilers moved to the NHL, where he set numerous scoring records and led his team to four Stanley Cup victories.

Wayne Gretzky was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame immediately after retiring in 1999, making him the most recent player to have the waiting period waived. The NHL retired his number 99 jersey across the league, making him the only hockey player and one of only three players in professional sports history to do so.