50 Goals in 50 Games - Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Gretzky

• 1981–82: 61 in 50 games (50 in 39)
• 1983–84: 61 in 50 games (50 in 42)
• 1984–85: 53 in 50 games (50 in 49)

Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers demolished the "50 in 50" mark the next season. In Gretzky’s 38th game, he scored 4 goals, giving him 45 on the season. In his very next game, on December 30, 1981, he scored 5 goals against the Philadelphia Flyers to give him the record of 50 goals in 39 games. He had 50 goals before anybody else even had 30, and finished with an NHL-record 92 goals on the season.

Gretzky went on to score 50 goals in fewer than 50 games two more times in his career. In 1983–84 he scored his 50th goal in the team's 42nd game (ending up with 87 goals). Gretzky's 50th goal was an empty net goal that put the Oilers up 5-3 in a win over Hartford at home. It was also Gretzky's third goal of the game to complete a hat trick.

In 1984-85 he scored his 50th in the team's 49th game (ending the season with 73 goals). Gretzky's 50th goal came on January 26, 1985, (his 24th birthday,) on the first of three goals he scored in a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was the third time Gretzky scored 50 goals in 50 games, and the third time his 50/50 goal was part of a hat trick.