Rangers Fall In Gretzky's Last

Fittingly, the game went into overtime.

Fans were treated to a few extra moments of Wayne Gretzky, as if hockey wasn't quite ready to let The Great One go.

But he ended his career on the bench as Jaromir Jagr scored 1:22 into the extra period to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers.

He had hoped for a different ending.

"I wish I could have been like Michael Jordan hitting that last shot to win a championship."

Family, friends including NHL greats Mario Lemieux and Mark Messier and more than 18,000 cheering fans came out to see Gretzky one last time. And not even a loss could dampen their enthusiasm.

"It's always too soon when you see a great player retire," Lemieux said. "You always think they can play until they're 40, 45 years old."

Gretzky didn't disappoint his fans, assisting on a goal for his 2,857th point in his 1,487th game, and setting up a number of other good scoring opportunities for his teammates.

His final game signaled not only the end of the Rangers' season, but the end of an era. He announced his retirement on Friday after a spectacular 21-year professional career, setting the stage for the emotional sendoff in a game that had the atmosphere of a Stanley Cup final.

Gretzky said he took a short sentimental journey around Madison Square Garden before the game.

"I walked around, looked at the building, it's a special place," Gretzky said. "I was savoring it."

Gretzky got especially emotional during a timeout late in the game called by Rangers coach John Muckler.

"I looked up the clock and I realized I had 30 seconds to go," Gretzky said.

In between the second and third period, Gretzky said he gave his teammates a speech and each of them a souvenir stick wit No. 99 branded on the blade.

The game itself was more meaningful to the Penguins than to the Rangers, who are out of the playoffs for the second straight season. The Penguins began the day one point behind Buffalo for the seventh position in the Eastern Conference.

While the spotlight was on Gretzky, the game featured a great goaltending duel between Pittsburgh's Tom Barrasso and New York's Mike Richter. Barrasso made 37 saves and Richter 18, including some spectacular stops late in the game to maintain a 1-1 tie.

As the final minutes ticked away, the Garden crowd chanted, "Gret-zky, Gret-zky."

With Gretzky on the ice and the teams waiting to resume play in the final minute of regulation, all the fans stood cheering. He smiled and waved back, and his wife, Janet, was shown crying on the video scoreboard.

The cheering stopped momentarily when Jagr scored. But the crowd quickly came to its feet to cheer Gretzky, who had assembled with his teammates at center ice for one last picture.

The arena was buzzing even before the teams hit the ice. The noise reached new levels in the pregame ceremonies, which included tributes and gifts to Gretzky and video highlights of his career.

Also, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the league had retired Gretzky's No. 99, which has long been a synonym for "great" in hockey.

Riding the emotion of the moment, the Rangers played a strong first period, outshooting the Penguins 16-8. But they couldn't get one by Barrasso, who had recently returned after missing 18 games with a broken hand.

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead when former Ranger Alexei Kovalev capped a 3-on-2 break with a shot from the right circle at 12:13 of the second period. The Penguins' goal came after the Rangers failed to score despite some good opportunities set up by Gretzky.

Finally, Gretzky made something happen for his team. Taking a pass along the right-wing boards, he skated inside the blue line and passed to Mathieu Schneider at the center of the ice.

Schneider passed to Brian Leetch at the side of the net, and the Rangers captain scored with 30 seconds left in the second period with Barrasso out of position. The goal came on the Rangers' 25th shot.

Gretzky owns 61 NHL records, is a 10-time scoring champion and a nine-time MVP. But the 1998-99 season was one of frustration as he struggled with a neck injury and missed 12 games.

The season marked the first time in his career that Gretzky did not have at least as many points as games played. It also marked the first time that he failed to score in double digits. A player who once scored 92 goals in a season, Gretzky only had 9 in 70 games this season.

Among those joining Gretzky on the ice for the pregame tribute was his wife, sons Ty and Trevor, and daughter Paulina, and his father and mother, Walter and Phyllis Gretzky.

Flashbulbs popped from the stands throughout the ame, reminiscent of Mark McGwire's home-run chase last summer with camera-ready fans hoping to record a historic moment.

There were also video tributes on the scoreboard throughout the game from sports celebrities, including Gretzky's boyhood hero, Gordie Howe, and basketball legend Michael Jordan, who himself retired this year.

Gretzky broke down near the end of the game.

"They were tears of joy, because I was thinking about all the fun things that happened," he said.

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