April 13, 1940 - NYR 3, Toronto 2, Overtime - Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6 - All-Star RW Bryan Hextall (he of 39 points in 48 games) scores in overtime to give the Rangers their 3rd Stanley Cup in just 14 seasons. Then, management burned the lease of MSG in the Cup, and the Rangers wouldn't win the Cup for another 54 years.
April 29, 1971 - NYR 3, Chicago 2, Triple Overtime - Semi-Finals, Game 6 - Pete Stemkowski scores in triple overtime to give the Rangers a Game 7 against the Blackhawks while at MSG. They wound up losing Game 7, but the game - and Stemkowski - are forever a part of Rangers's lore.
November 2, 1975 - Detroit 6, NYR 4 - Regular Season - The season before, Eddie Giacomin started less games than his partner, Gilles Villemure. In the off-season, Villemure was traded to Chicago. Giacomin lost his starting job to John Davidson, and in fact only played 4 games in blue before going to Detroit on waivers. Two days later, he returned, and when a Ranger scored on Eddie, they were boo-ed mercilessly. The Wings won the game, and Giacomin received a standing ovation.
May 8, 1979 - NYR 2, Islanders 1 - Semi-finals, Game 6 - The Islanders were the future, the Rangers an afterthought. However, in this series, John Davidson became a Rangers legend with his incredible play. Mike Lupica called the series "a gift" because of how good the hockey was. In a baseball town, it put hockey on the map and solidified JD's legacy in NY.
March 6, 1994 - NYR 5, NYI 4 - Regular Season - The Rangers hadn't won at the Coliseum since October of 1989. The night before, they tied 3-3 at MSG. With a young, chubby, 10-year old me at the game, the Rangers won on a Sergei Zubov power play goal with just over a minute remaining in the game. In this game, Mike Richter started, Glen Healy replaced him, and Richter replaced Healy later on. (By the way, Islanders goal scorers that night: Pierre Turgeon, Ben Hogue, Ray Ferraro, and Marty McInnis.)
May 27, 1994 - NYR 2, Devils 1 - Conference Finals, Game 7 - How was this not one of the best games - if not series - ever? Up 1-0 with 7.7 seconds left, Val Zelepukin scores for the Devils to bring it to overtime. If the Devils won in OT, the Rangers would still be cursed to this day. However, the Stanley Cup was their Destiny in 1994, and Stephane Matteau (he of the Tony Amonte deadline-day trade) scored his second double-OT goal of the series. Not only did this game cement his legacy in Rangers lore, it put Howie Rose's call on the list of greatest calls ever. By the way, Howie, there is no Mount Vancouver.
June 14, 1994 - NYR 3, Vancouver 2 - Stanley Cup Finals, Game 7 - What can be said about this that hasn't already been said? This was the apex of Ranger fandom and might be forever, regardless of how many Cups they wind up winning. After 54 years and a turbulent playoffs where they went 3-0 in elimination games, who else but Mark Messier scores the Cup-winning goal. Looking back, it was an amazing game, with all the stars scoring - Mess, Adam Graves, Brian Leetch, and Trevor Linden had the only 2 for the Canucks. Richter also played off the wall in this game, saving history for the Rangers.
March 31, 2004 - Buffalo 4, NYR 2 - Last home game of the regular season - Not wanting his last game to be on the road, Mark Messier played his final game - and scored his final goal, number 694 - at MSG, followed by a few victory laps and a lot of tears from him. A disappointing end to another disappointing season, the game was only remarkable because he scored a goal and was surrounded by Jaromir Jagr, Bobby Holik, and a bunch of people named Green, Green, Balej, Murray, Larose, and other names you won't care to remember.
October 5, 2005 - Rangers 5, Flyers 3 - Regular Season, First Game - I remember sitting on my couch, depressed, as the Flyers took a 3-1 lead in the first game since the lockout. Some dude named Jason Strudwick scored the Rangers goal early in the first, but the Rangers gave up 2 quick ones and another in the 2nd before Jamie Lundmark (boooo) scored. Then, Jaromir Jagr took over, scoring 2 power play goals 5 minutes apart, and Marcel Hossa scored a half-minute later to make it 5-3. Jagr's goals were a pre-cursor of things to come, as we have never seen a Ranger score so many points in all of their years.
This also marked a turning point for the franchise. No longer were they going to go down by a few goals and not fight to stay in the game. No longer were the superstars going to stand around and collect paychecks. This was a team made up of grinders, stars, and established vets who played with heart and soul, not to mention a superstar goalie waiting in the wings. To this day, I call the 2005-06 season a dream season.
April 4, 2006 - NYR 3, Flyers 2 - Regular Season - This was the game where the Rangers clinched the playoffs for the first time in 9 years, with starter-turned-back-up Kevin Weekes in net. The Rangers needed just one point to clinch the playoffs, so when Marty Straka scored in the third, we all felt it. The shootout win was just icing on the cake. This was a great, great moment that took the gorilla off of the Rangers' backs, and on top of that, the game itself was excellent. Of course, the Rangers would only win two more games until October, but this was a night of celebration, a night the Rangers fans hadn't seen since Wayne Gretzky was in blue and Jagr was still on his first team.
April 5, 2007 - NYR 3, Montreal 1 - Regular Season - The last home game of the season, and as per usual, Steven McDonald was there to give out his Extra Effort Award (Jed Ortmeyer won). He also fired up the crowd and the team, who needed a win to clinch the playoffs again. His speech went something along the lines of this...
"When I lay dying in my hospital bed after being shot, the NY Rangers came in and gave me a challenge: Live. Today, I give you the NY Rangers a challenge: Win."
The Rangers won on with goals from Petr Prucha, Jagr, and Marek Malik (!). And the Chili's to-go I had gave me stomach pains for about 12 days.
April 17, 2007 - NYR 7, Atlanta 0 - First round, Game 3 - The 06-07 season was mediocre at best, with the Rangers again finishing in 6th place, although they drew a weak opponent in Atlanta. Still, it was a good sign when the Rangers won both games down south, then came back to MSG and demolished the Thrashers, 7-0. Michael Nylander scored one in the first minute and ended up with a hat trick. Malik (!) scored, rookie Ryan Callahan scored 2 in the second, and seasoned-vet Brendan Shanahan scored as well. It was also Henrik Lundqvist's first postseason shutout, and proved the Rangers were to be taken seriously in the playoffs on the heels of being swept last year. (They were the only team to be swept in 2006 and the only team to sweep a series in 2007.) Oh, and I had Subway for dinner.
Okay, okay, so it's 12 games, but I wanted to include the 7-0 game and Messier's final stand just in case it's hard to come by footage from 1940.
If they were to show highlights of the 1940 game on the NHL Network, it'd probably be still pictures of Bryan Hextall and Lester Patrick with Dan Pollard talking over it.
ReplyDeleteGood list, though. I would have liked to have seen the Gretzky hat trick game against Florida from '97, but it was probably more a great moment for Gretzky than the franchise. I still remember that Rangers-Islanders game from '94... Healy was legitimately pissed that he came in for like two minutes and then got pulled.
The Gretzky hat trick game has been highlight-reeled to death. I would have liked to have put his last game in there, but that's more of a Penguins DVD game instead.
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