Goals Hard To Come By For Gretzky

Around the NHL

Wayne Gretzky has had some memorable streaks in his career. Now he has one he’d like to forget - 15 straight games without a goal.

“You try not to think about it, (but) it’s only human nature (and) you get down on yourself,” Gretzky said after extending his goal-less streak in the New York Rangers’ 5-2 victory over the Hartford Whalers on Wednesday night.

Not that Gretzky isn’t scoring. The NHL’s career scoring leader set up four goals against the Whalers to give him a league-leading 56 assists and a career-leading 1,827.

But goals are another matter. Gretzky last put a puck into the net on Dec. 30, when he scored his 15th and 16th goals against Dallas. Gretzky’s league-record total has been holding at 853 goals ever since.

The drought is the second-longest in Gretzky’s career. He went 16 games without scoring a goal in 1992-93 when he played for the Los Angeles Kings.

Bowman fails to get 1,000th win

With a Joe Louis Arena crowd of 19,983 primed for his 1,000th regular-season win, Scotty Bowman instead was stuck with loss No. 452 Thursday night in Detroit.

Martin Gelinas had three goals, two in the third period, as the Vancouver Canucks defeated Bowman’s Detroit Red Wings 7-4.

Penguins get go-ahead

The Pittsburgh Penguins can move ahead with plans to renovate the Civic Arena after a regional tax board reversed itself Thursday and approved a $12.9 million grant.

The arena upgrades will include 1,400 new club seats and extra luxury boxes, plus improved concession stands and merchandise stores. The Penguins considered the new seats critical to their stability.