The 2025-26 NHL season brings all the action and drama that we love in the league. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Kings and the Vegas Golden Knights met at the T-Mobile Arena, and the exhilarating match ended with the Kings securing a 6-5 victory over the Golden Knights. In the third period, Los Angeles really redeemed itself; the Kings recovered from a two-goal deficit to score twice in a span of 2:41.
23-year-old winger, Quinton Byfield, was central to the Kings’ victory on Wednesday. In a postgame interview, the former second overall draft pick attributed his performance to an interaction with the NHL GOAT, Wayne Gretzky.
Quinton Byfield of the Los Angeles Kings Shares Magical Wayne Gretzky Moment
Byfield secured one goal and one assist in the Kings’ game against the Golden Knights. Most importantly, the 23-year-old breakaway goal was crucial to Los Angeles’ thrilling success. “Byfield extended it to 2-0 at 11:57, scoring on a breakaway after intercepting a pass from Jeremy Lauzon,” reported NHL.com’s independent correspondent, Paul Delos Santos.
Byfield’s game was so remarkable that even Gretzky spoke about it. One of the NHL’s hosts on TNT brought up the topic in the interview, and the winger could not contain his smile. “You get to sit there and you get to hear Wayne Gretzky talking about your game. I mean, that is gotta be a ‘pinch me’ type of moment huh?”
There is little room to argue otherwise: Gretzky is an aspirational figure for every young hockey player, and to earn his validation through your hard work is a praiseworthy feat.
Quinton Byfield said shaking Wayne Gretzky’s hand gave him the magic touch to score on the breakaway tonight 😅 pic.twitter.com/2RyJhgbSM9
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) October 9, 2025
This is when Byfield admitted that shaking Gretzky’s hand before the game fueled the crucial breakaway that was instrumental to sealing the Kings’ fate against the Knights.
“It was pretty crazy: I was sitting here, listening to that. You know, honestly, before I got the opportunity to shake his hand, and that’s what gave me the touch on the breakaway there. He passed it a long time ago and gave me something special and nice, so thank you for that,” Byfield shared, looking evidently giddy and awestruck.
Gretzky intervened and made an admission about a personal drawback: the NHL goat himself was really bad at breakaways. “Well, that’s how young he is. I was really bad at breakaways, he doesn’t know that.”
Be it Gretzky’s magical touch, Byfield’s hard work and training, or a combination of both, the 23-year-old winger looks poised for a fulfilling NHL career. The winger has other notable achievements to his credit: he was the youngest player on the roster when Canada won the 2020 IIHF World Championship, a clear testament to his elite hockey acumen and potential.
