Gretzky Ties Record In N.Y. Win

Wayne Gretzky accepted a trophy commemorating his third NHL All-Star MVP award, then went out and looked the part.

Gretzky reached another goal-scoring milestone and set up Adam Graves for a pair of first-period scores as the New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks 8-4 Thursday night.

Gretzky scored his 1,071st goal as a pro, tying him with Gordie Howe for total career goals combining regular season and playoffs in the NHL and old World Hockey Association.

Gretzky beat Garth Snow from the right circle at 16:21 of the second period after taking a cross-ice pass from Petr Nedved just after a New York power play had expired to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead. The goal was the eighth of the season for Gretzky, who once scored a record 92 in one year while playing with the Edmonton Oilers.

Gretzky didn't finish the game, however, leaving after being pounded into the boards by Bill Muckalt in the third period.

"He didn't hit me that hard," said Gretzky, who did not suffer serious injury. "I got myself into a position I normally never get in, three or four feet away from the boards, he hit me and that's always the way to get someone hurt."

Muckalt was penalized for boarding, but insists it was a clean hit.

"I was just trying to finish my check," said Muckalt. "I didn't realize who it was until I was right there. I just played the man. I would never try to intentionally hurt him. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He's one of the greatest players to evr play the game."

Gretzky lived up to that praise, keying the Rangers offense early. His cross-ice pass to Graves led to a 1-0 Rangers lead 8:43 into the game. Graves took the feed from Gretzky in the high slot and rifled a shot under Garth Snow's glove for his 22nd goal of the season.

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Wayne Gretzky (right) received a record welcome from teammates. (AP)

Graves scored his second goal of the period at 14:50 off a pass from Gretzky from the corner. With the Rangers on a power play, Graves led Gretzky with a dump pass, then camped in front of Snow and one-timed the return feed.

Graves has a league-leading 12 power-play goals.

"I just went out and tried to work hard and Gretzky made some great plays and that makes it a lot easier," said Graves. "We were able to capitalize on their turnovers in the neutral zone. It was a big win for us."

Graves set up the third Rangers goal when he dove to chop a loose puck toward the net and John MacLean scored past a stickless Snow at 7:22 of the second period for his 18th goal of the season.

"We can't play like that," Snow said. "We've got to play a lot better in our own end."

Markus Naslund scored his 25th goal at 19:03 of the second period on a power play to make it 4-1.

New York extended its lead to 6-1 on Brian Leetch's seventh goal of the season at 3:53 of the third and Kevin Stevens' 11th 66 seconds later.

Vancouver responded with Ed Jovanovski's fourth goal at 6:32. Brent Fedyk scored his second of the season on a short-handed breakaway at 8:33 to extend the Rangers' lead to 7-2 before Naslund converted a backhander at 10:19 and Todd Bertuzzi scored his second 1:16 later for Vancouver to make it 7-4. MacLean finished out the scoring with a power-play goal at 18:12.

"We started to get going in the third," said Naslund, "but it was too late."

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