I recall that fedorov ( who was pretty young then ) was assigned to shadow Gretz in one of the Canada Cups ...Probably 91...
Gretzky proved to be a better skater with puck than Fedorov without it.
Gretz literally skated circles around Federov, turning him every which way, till Fedorov fell flat on his butt, then headed straight to the bench with a look of total exasperation.
Gretz ( who certainly wasn't straight line fast ) used to rocker his blades, and probably had the tightest turning radius/ smallest turning arc of any player in NHL history...
A little late to the party, but this is the beautiful little sequence you're talking about:
Gretzky picks up the puck in the corner, and Fedorov closes in on Gretz, steering him away from the net in a crouch, keeping his stick at a low angle, blocking the passing lane very well.
And then all of a sudden Gretzky is going in the opposite direction, and Fedorov, who once told Mark Howe he never gets knocked down, totally wipes out. An amazing little maneuver that was just par for the course for Peak Gretzky.
You added a little narrative sizzle at the end that I don't see on the tape (if this is indeed the sequence you were referring to), but I can easily imagine Fedorov being exasperated/embarrassed.
That being said, Fedorov played pretty good D on Gretzky that game, and stripped him at least twice that game. In fact this was the only game in the tournament where Gretzky did not record a single point (he had 10pts in the previous 4 games).