Gretzky’s 894th NHL goal against Jets assistant passed Howe for most in professional hockey history

WINNIPEG -- Wade Flaherty has worn the title like a badge of honor for nearly 26 years.

The last goalie Wayne Gretzky scored against, the one who surrendered his 894th and final NHL goal on March 29, 1999, Flaherty has been watching with keen interest while Alex Ovechkin closes in on that magical number, which remains the League record for at least a little while longer.

Now a Winnipeg Jets assistant who works with their goalies, Flaherty will get an up-close look at the record chase when Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals visit Canada Life Centre on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TVAS, TSN3, MNMT).

With 888 goals, Ovechkin is seven away from surpassing Gretzky and unseating Flaherty as the goalie attached to the NHL record number.

“It’s kind of an answer to a trivia question,” Flaherty said. “A lot of people, even my goalies Eric Comrie and [Connor Hellebuyck] will be like, ‘Hey, you were the last goalie that Wayne Gretzky scored on,’ and it’s kind of a little bit of a joking around, ribbing.

“But it’s pretty cool at the end of the day.”

Flaherty never thought back then that someone would come along to top Gretzky’s NHL goal total.

“No, I wouldn’t have,” Flaherty said. “I’ve been around the game a long time and what ‘Gretz’ has done, that’s pretty impressive. And now ‘Ovi’s’ coming up. That’s impressive. That’s a heck of a career.”

John MacLean and Adam Graves, who were Gretzky’s linemates when he scored that goal in the New York Rangers’ 3-1 victory against Flaherty and the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden, also thought 894 would stand forever as the NHL record.

“I don’t think anybody thought anybody could touch it,” MacLean said.

But Gretzky was an early believer in and supporter of Ovechkin’s bid. The 64-year-old said at the 2020 NHL All-Star Game in St. Louis that Ovechkin had “a great chance” to break the goal record, and that he was rooting for him.

That admiration is mutual.

“His skill, his vision, how he feels the game, how he looked at the game, everything was different,” Ovechkin said.

At first glance, you might not see any of those traits in how Gretzky scored his 894th goal, which was also the 91st game-winner of his career. He simply knocked his own rebound past Flaherty and into the net.

After the game, Gretzky compared it to his first professional goal, which he scored as a 17-year-old while playing for Indianapolis of the World Hockey Association on Oct. 20, 1978, saying, “It wasn’t pretty. Well, neither was this one.”

Still, Zdeno Chara, then a 22-year-old rookie defenseman for the Islanders who was a few feet away when Gretzky shoveled the puck from the crease into the net, believes the goal demonstrated some of what made Gretzky great.

“He’d always find the right timing to come into that area and look for the loose puck,” Chara said, “and then get that loose puck into the net.”

It also added one more record to Gretzky’s unmatched resume before he retired less than a month later.

* * *
Flaherty vaguely remembers reading in the newspaper during the Islanders’ bus ride into Manhattan that day that Gretzky was on the verge of breaking some record and thinking, “Huh, that’s interesting.” It seemed Gretzky already owned every possible scoring mark. In addition to most goals, he held or shared 60 other NHL records when he retired, including for assists (1,963) and points (2,857), which have yet to be challenged.

But he found another one -- combined professional goals.

Gretzky broke Gordie Howe’s record for NHL regular-season goals by scoring his 802nd while playing for the Los Angeles Kings against the Vancouver Canucks on March 23, 1994. It took him another five years to overtake Howe in professional goals.

Howe scored 1,071 in the regular season and playoffs during his six WHA seasons and 27 NHL seasons. Gretzky’s final goal against Flaherty was his 1,072nd professional goal: 894 NHL regular-season goals in 20 seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, Kings, St. Louis Blues and Rangers, 122 Stanley Cup Playoff goals, 46 regular-season goals in his one WHA season with Indianapolis and Edmonton, and 10 WHA playoff goals.

If the record feels contrived, consider that Gretzky had little to shoot for as far as individual accomplishments by that point in his career.

“He was chasing himself,” MacLean said. “It’s hard to chase yourself. Ovechkin is chasing Wayne and everybody’s on board. Not that we weren’t; I loved playing with Wayne, but he was chasing himself. He had already set everything. His chasing was done five years before.”

Gretzky scored his 1,071st professional goal (893rd NHL regular-season goal) to tie Howe against Canucks goalie Garth Snow on Feb. 4, 1999. It was just his eighth goal of the season, ending a nine-game drought.

After playing through a stiff neck and some numbness in his right arm caused by a herniated disk, Gretzky, who was 38 at the time, missed 12 straight games between Feb. 26 and March 21 while receiving treatment. Up to that point, he’d played 223 consecutive games, but that injury was no doubt a contributing factor when Gretzky decided to retire later that season.

“He’d been hit a little more than he had in his career, that’s for sure,” said John Davidson, a senior adviser with the Columbus Blue Jackets and former NHL goalie who was the color analyst on Rangers telecasts for MSG Networks at the time. “So, I think, he and (agent) Mike Barnett got together with his family and decided that was the time to do it.”

Even in a limited capacity, Gretzky’s ability to anticipate plays helped him tie for sixth in the NHL with 53 assists and lead the Rangers with 62 points in 70 games that season.

“When he didn’t have the puck, he was always in the place where the puck would be coming,” Chara said. “But you could not cheat because if you would cheat on that play or pass, then you would get exposed by the player who had the puck.

“He was so smart to find areas where he could excel, and he could have the space and time to make those plays.”

Gretzky was always more of a playmaking center than a goal-scorer. He has more assists than any other player in League history has points -- Jaromir Jagr is second with 1,921 points.

Even when Gretzky set the single-season NHL record with 92 goals in 80 games in 1981-82, he also led the League with 120 assists. He seemed to focus even more on setting up his teammates later in his career, though.

During his three seasons with the Rangers (1996-1999), Gretzky scored only 57 goals but had 192 assists. Jagr was the only player in the NHL with more assists during that span with 198.

“He was a goal-scorer second, passer first, there’s no question,” Davidson said. “Not to put any damper on anything, but he could’ve had a ton more goals if he wanted to. He could’ve had a ton more.”

Graves, who led the Rangers with 38 goals in 1998-99, remembered being in awe of Gretzky when he joined New York and first skated on his line in 1996. Gretzky had a way of calming those around him, though.

“You're on the ice with ‘The Great One’ as a teammate and he had an incredible sense to feel your nerves and he would just settle you down right away,” Graves said. “He was always looking out for others.”

But that didn’t mean Gretzky didn’t look out for himself occasionally too.

“I was somewhat of a shooter, and he did mention once or twice, ‘Hey, you know what? Sometimes, instead of taking the shot, I usually hang around behind the net, so you might want to throw it back there,’” said MacLean, who scored 28 goals in 1998-99. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, good point. Sorry.’”

* * *
Gretzky had no points in three games after returning from his injury layoff and hadn’t scored in 11 games when Flaherty and the Islanders arrived at Madison Square Garden that night.

Flaherty, a ninth-round pick (No. 181) by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1988 NHL Draft, had faced Gretzky four previous times, all in relief, and escaped without allowing a goal.

The first appearance came with the San Jose Sharks against the Kings on March 26, 1995. Flaherty replaced Arturs Irbe with the Sharks trailing 6-3 after two periods and stopped 12 of 13 shots in the third, including a Gretzky breakaway.

“I’m obviously pretty wet behind the ears, and the first shot I faced was he came in on a breakaway and I made the save somehow,” Flaherty said. “He tried to deke me and I just kind of fire-saled into a split, and he put it off my pad somehow.”

Although Flaherty hadn’t started against a Gretzky team prior to that night at the Garden, he knew the scouting report on him well.

“I do remember how we were trying to defend him when he was in L.A,” Flaherty said. “He was such an elite passer -- it’s funny the things you remember -- but if it was a 2-on-1, it was let him have the breakaway. Don’t allow him to make that pass. It’s kind of like the [defensive] play, take away the pass, but even more so with him.

“But as a goalie, you were always aware when he was on the ice.”

After Graves and Mariusz Czerkawski exchanged second-period goals, the Rangers and Islanders were tied 1-1 late into the third. The play that led to Gretzky’s goal began with Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch taking a slap shot from outside the blue line that Flaherty kicked out with his left pad.

Islanders forward Trevor Linden collected the rebound in the right corner and appeared headed behind the net with the puck before a forechecking MacLean cut him off below the goal line. Gretzky followed Linden toward the right corner but eased off when he saw MacLean moving in.

So, when Linden turned away from MacLean and passed the puck back toward the corner, Gretzky was in perfect position to intercept.

“He was always thinking ahead of the play to where he could be and where the puck could end up,” Chara said. “Just a professor on the ice.”

Gretzky cut to the front of the net and slid a shot back against the grain that Flaherty stopped with his left pad as he dropped to his rear end, facing toward the right corner. The puck sat in the blue ice of the crease in front of Flaherty, but tormentingly out of his reach after Islanders defenseman Kenny Jonsson skated into his right pad and pushed him farther away.

“I was sitting there, and the puck was right there,” Flaherty said. “So, if you watch the video, I throw my blocker at the puck because I can’t get to it, and then I think ‘Big Z’ came over the top of me.”

It was actually Jonsson who came over Flaherty’s back to try to reach the loose puck. Chara was battling with Graves at the top of the crease.

“I watched it just like everyone else, I just had a lot better seat,” Graves said. “In fact, I was standing. So, I had standing room only in front of the net and I was very good at getting out of the way, especially when [Gretzky] was on the ice.”

As Chara tried to push Graves away from the puck, it was chaos in the crease behind him, players falling around Flaherty.

“And then Wayne is just completely loose,” Chara said.

Gretzky collided with Islanders forward Warren Luhning in front after taking his initial shot but was able to stay on his skates. When Gretzky turned back toward the net, he saw the puck sitting the crease too.

“I felt like I could get to it,” he said after the game. “I just kept thinking, ‘I’ve got to get to it.’”

Gretzky lunged forward and pushed the puck over the goal line to break the 1-1 tie with 2:07 remaining. Flaherty could only sit there and watch while becoming the 155th goalie Gretzky scored against.

“I threw my blocker trying to knock it out, and then I saw the stick come in and just put it in,” Flaherty said. “And I didn’t realize it was him.”

The celebration of Gretzky’s goal -- just his ninth of the season -- ensued. Flaherty remembers a long ovation from the Garden crowd and delay after it was announced that Gretzky had broken this record he’d read about on the bus. After play resumed, MacLean scored an empty-net goal with 43 seconds left to seal the victory.

“It’s funny,” MacLean said. “Wayne loved to pass, but, of course, he knew his way around the net. He always did. Great players, they know the big moments and they know how to manufacture something to get a goal.”

If Flaherty didn’t know the details of the record at the time, Gretzky certainly did. He’d passed his boyhood idol, Howe, again, this time in total professional goals.

“This one, obviously, is going to be a tough record to beat, but you never know in time how many great players come along,” Gretzky said. “More importantly, it’s such a big goal. I’m happy it was a goal that was important to the team at a time when we desperately need a win.”

* * *
Although the win against the Islanders kept their slim playoff hopes alive a while longer, the Rangers were mathematically eliminated from contention April 7 with five games remaining. A few days later, Davidson was the first to report Gretzky was considering retirement.

“He never came out and said it, but I knew it,” Davidson said. “I’d been around him enough, talked to him enough. So, it was Hockey Night in Canada between periods and I went over to Windsor, Ontario, to shoot it in this TV studio. I had my hand up and I used it kind of as a barometer and I said, ‘Well, if he’s going to retire, it’s going to be right over here.’ Then, I took my arm, and I put it about four-fifths of the way and said, ‘That’s where it is.’”

Gretzky confirmed his intention to retire at a news conference April 16, 1999, two days before the Rangers’ regular-season finale against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden. The game turned into a celebration of Gretzky’s career.

He added another point to his total with an assist on Leetch’s goal in the second period, but the Penguins won 2-1 in overtime with Jagr scoring the winning goal. Gretzky didn’t score in his final eight games, making the one against Flaherty his last and leaving the NHL record at 894.

“When I heard he was retiring, I don’t know if you should say this when you’re a goaltender, but I was like, ‘That would be pretty cool if you were the last goaltender that he ever scored on,’” Flaherty said.

Chara, who won Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman in 2008-09 with the Boston Bruins, viewed it differently.

“I wish he would have one more after that. I’ll tell you that much,” said Chara, who played 24 NHL seasons with the Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Bruins and Capitals before retiring in 2022. “But it’s not just about the last goal. It was such a privilege, an honor to play against Wayne, (Mario) Lemieux, players that were so dominant. Those are the Michael Jordans of hockey. You have the Tiger Woods of golf.

“They set such high standards that even in modern hockey these days are hard to overcome and bypass. Seeing Alex to be on that path to possibly break it and, obviously, he’s very, very close, is just unreal.”

Ironically for a player who set up so many teammates’ goals, Gretzky’s final goal was unassisted. MacLean, whose forecheck pressure forced Linden’s turnover that led to the goal, wishes the puck had deflected off him on the way to Gretzky, which would’ve gotten him an assist.

“Are you sure it didn’t hit my blade or anything like that?” MacLean, now an Islanders assistant said, laughing. “Trust me, in the 80s, it hit me. You’d just tell the scoring guy, ‘Yeah, that hit my stick on the way out.’”

To Graves, though, just being on the ice for the goal was an honor.

“You think about that when you look at those old videos, the old game footage and you share that with your family and friends,” Graves said. “It's special. For me, the game is about the people, the gift of your teammates and your families, the people you get to meet along the way, and those capsules in life, those moments, memories, and you don't have to be a National Hockey League player to have those.

“You could have been in the stands that night and you were there, so you own it. You were part of it, even if it's a very small part. For that, you have to be thankful.”

Flaherty is thankful for his part in that history. And though he’d prefer not to see Ovechkin score another milestone goal against the Jets -- he scored No. 600 on March 12, 2018, and Nos. 801 and 802 to pass Howe for second in NHL history on Dec. 23, 2022, against Winnipeg -- he’s enjoying watching Ovechkin chase Gretzky.

“I think it’s awesome,” Flaherty said. “You have these records people really didn’t think anybody would come close to, and now you’ve got a guy that’s [seven] goals away from breaking it.

“Knock on wood that he does. It’s great for the game.”

As for Gretzky’s 1,072 professional goals, Ovechkin has more work to do to reach that total. Including 55 regular-season goals and two in the playoffs with Moscow Dynamo during five seasons in the Russian Super League/Kontinental Hockey League (2000-2005, 2012-13), and 888 regular-season and 72 playoff goals during his 20 NHL seasons with the Capitals, the 39-year-old has 1,017 professional goals.

If Ovechkin chooses to pursue it, however, Gretzky might root for him to break that record too.

"For me, that's the incredible part and the humbling part of our game,” Graves said. “Whenever I've seen Wayne talk about his records and specifically his 894, he is as supportive and as big of a fan as anyone. … That's genuine from 'Gretz.' I'll tell you, what [Ovechkin’s] doing, it's just incredible and when you see great players like that, it's fun to watch as a fan.

“Everyone in the hockey world has their eyes on it, and the best part is I think the biggest cheerleader is No. 99, which speaks to his character and his humility -- just why he is ‘The Great One.’”

NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report