The number eight has had a lot of significance to Edmonton Oilers forward Taylor Hall, not only is it the number of games he's played this season and the number of points he has, but it's also the amount of seconds it took him to score back-to-back goals against the Islanders Thursday night at the Nassau Colieseum, a mark that broke Wayne Gretzky's franchise record for fastest back-to-back goals in team history.
While it's safe to assume that most of Gretzky's franchise records in Edmonton will stand, the nine seconds he took between goals will not, as Hall was just a tick quicker to the feat.
Hall converted a pass from Justin Schultz at 15:52 of the first period and then banged home a rebound against Islanders netminder Evgeni Nabokov at the 16-minute mark, just eight seconds later, to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead. Unfortuantely for the Oilers, those two goals were the team's only offense and it eventually fell to New York 3-2, but those eight seconds will go down in the franchise record books as the quickest two back-to-back goals scored by the same player in an Edmonton uniform.
Gretzky notched the feat originally by scoring back-to-back goals in nine seconds back on Dec. 18, 1981, according to NHL.com, in a game against the St. Louis Blues.
Hall has three goals and five assists on the season, but it's been a rough campaign for the Oilers thus far. Edmonton has won one game out of its first eight and have posted a 1-6-1 record while sitting in the cellar of the newly shaped Pacific Division with just three points, while sitting just above the Philadelphia Flyers (1-7-0, two points) and Buffalo Sabres (1-7-1, three points) for the NHL's worst record. Edmonton sits a full 10 points behind the division-leading San Jose Sharks (6-0-1, 13 points).
The Oilers are hoping its young talent will lead it to a quick turn around and help the team make it back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the 2005-06 season, where it was one win away from the Stanley Cup before dropping a Game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes.
While it may go down as another lost year for Edmonton, fans of the franchise witnessed history in the blink of an eye Thursday night-which wrapped up in just eight seconds.
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