This day in NHL history: Wayne Gretzky breaks the goals record

On this day in NHL history, Wayne Gretzky scored his 802nd career goal, usurping Gordie Howe to become the league’s all-time leading scorer.

The NHL would not be what it is today without the greatness of Wayne Gretzky. In 1,487 career games played in the NHL, Gretzky scored 894 goals to become the all-time leading goal scorer in league history, a feat that is considered by many to be incredibly difficult to break in today’s NHL.

On March 23, 1994, Gretzky officially became the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer with his 802nd career goal as the Los Angeles Kings took on the Vancouver Canucks. The NHL’s previous record holder, Gordie Howe, had 801 career goals in his 1,767-game career — taking 21 seasons to hit that mark.

Gretzky, meanwhile, hit that plateau in 15 seasons in the NHL with a goal that will be remembered forever in the halls of hockey history.

The goal — which came in the final six minutes of the second period — was vintage Gretzky, with no Canucks player around him to even stop the easy tap-in with Vancouver goaltender Kirk McLean well out of position. The Kings eventually lost the contest 6-3, but the goal remains the main highlight from the game to this day.

The occasion was so momentous that the game stopped play for minutes, as Gretzky was celebrated on-ice with a ceremony as television cameras, photographers and reporters swarmed the ice to get a glimpse at history.

That goal 26 years ago remains one of the NHL’s most iconic moments in league history, if not sports history. Breaking records in sports is an incredibly difficult thing to do, and the world seems to stop every time an athlete does write their name in the history books because it happens so infrequently.

Greztky’s record has stood for 26 years now and counting, but his time as the NHL’s goal-scoring leader may be coming to an end if Alex Ovechkin and his 706 career goals have anything to say about it. Ovechkin will have his chances to break Gretzky’s record in the seasons to come, but March 23 will always belong to The Great One.

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