Only five players in NHL history have managed to reach the magical number of 50 goals in 50 games. Wayne Gretzky managed to do it three times, and the first time was special. Gretzky had scored 41 goals in 37 games, but in his 38th, he scored four goals.
In his 39th game, he scored five goals against the Philadelphia Flyers. Gretzky had 50 goals before any other player had scored 30 to set an NHL record that will never be broken.
Wayne Gretzky didn’t just break the record for the fastest 50 goals; he absolutely shattered it, and he went on to finish the season with 92 goals, still the NHL single-season record.
Wayne Gretzky is the greatest player of all time, but 50 goals in 39 games is perhaps his most special one. It came early in Gretzky’s career and happened just a year after Mike Bossy tied Maurice ”Rocket” Richard’s record.
Wayne Gretzky always had a special bond with his father, Walter.
He made a backyard rink so Wayne had a place to play at a young age, and Wayne has said that his father taught him some of the most important lessons in life.
And when Wayne broke that very special 50-goals-in-39-games-record, it was obvious who he was going to speak with first about it.
And he didn’t care much about the time difference.
“I remember I got a phone call one night. It was from Wayne,” Walter once told the YouTube series ‘Unpeeled.’ “I said hello. It was 2:30 in the morning. ‘I did it, Dad! I did it, I did it.’ He was screaming. I said: ‘What?’ ‘I did it, Dad. I did it!’ ‘Wayne, what?’
“He was shouting. ‘I got five tonight. Fifty in 39 games.’ When he broke that record, he was so excited. And then what I will always remember: ‘I got to go, Dad. I told them I had to make an important phone call before we had a press conference.’ He thought of his family first before anyone else.”
