We should dig out Gretzky's stats against the Bruins for the same time and see how he did against Ray.
But you're right, goaltending could figure into that or just the fact that they are a few games across multiple seasons.. maybe he was just hot.
edit - oh yeah.. some of these dates are in the 51 game streak right? Gretz was a little hot at the time.
Averaged 3 points per game during that time after all.
Gretzky vs Bruins
Date | Score | G | A | PTS
October 16, 1982 | Bruins 6, Oilers 6 | | 2 | 2
October 21, 1982 | Bruins 5, Oilers 3 | | 1 | 1
March 6, 1983 | Oilers 2, Bruins 5 | 1 | | 1
December 30, 1983 | Bruins 0, Oilers 2 | | 1 | 1
February 11, 1984 | Oilers 1, Bruins 4 | D | N | P
February 17, 1984 | Bruins 2, Oilers 5 | | 1 | 1
6 Games, 4 for Bourque | Edm 2-3-1 | 1 | 5 | 6
Bourque missed the first two games with a broken jaw, or softball injury, or puck to the face, or whatever stupid thing happened to him near the beginning of seasons in the early 80's. Gretzky missed Feb 11 1984 with a shoulder injury. I am fairly certain they faced each other Dec 30 and Feb 17, reasonably sure about March 6.
Oilers were 2-2 v Bourque
Oilers were 2-2-1 w/ Wayne (1.67 PPG)
Wayne was 2-1 vs Bourque (1 PPG)
3 games is a small sample. Bourque may have an advantage over Langway as his team did okay without him playing in October 82.
So long as the sample doesn't include the 88 Finals (13 pts in 4.5 games), I think Bourque may have done a reasonable job vs Wayne.