On Halloween of 1989, Wayne Gretzky’s skill was downright scary. He performed a couple tricks on Pittsburgh while giving the Kings a treat. His Los Angeles Kings faced off against Mario Lemieux’s Pittsburgh Penguins at the old Civic Arena.
Someone must have performed a Halloween ritual prior to the game, as Gretzky would take down the Penguins with relative ease.In a game that featured 23 penalties and 12 goals, Gretzky and his Kings dropped Pittsburgh 8-4.
Two of the greatest players to ever live clashed and Gretzky put up a hattrick and three assists. Lemieux could only respond with 2 assists and was a -3 in the game. Lemieux did have a goal waived off in the early going of the first period, however.
Gretzky scored two goals in the first (one shorthanded) before netting his third of the game in the early moments of the second period. Later in the game, Gretzky went on to find the sticks of Bernie Nicholls (twice) and Steve Duchesne, who potted goals, adding to Gretzky’s point total.
With the loss, Pittsburgh faltered, even more, declining to a 3-7-2 record after the defeat. Los Angeles improved to a 7-6-0 record after the win. Both Gretzky and Lemieux would obviously go on to have illustrious careers, but on that Halloween night, Wayne got the better of Mario.
