Doomed to one game obscurity

Hall of Famers

Two players in the Hockey Hall of Fame list one game with the Rangers on their resume.  Goalie Harry Lumley played one game for the Blueshirts in 1943-44 under the most bizarre circumstances.

It was December 23, 1943.  The Rangers were playing the Red Wings in Detroit when the Blueshirts’ starting goalie, Ken McAuley was hit in the jaw by a puck.  He finished the second period, but with a possible fractured jaw he couldn’t continue.  In those days, the teams carried only one goalie and the Red Wings loaned Lumley to the Rangers for the third period.

Lumley was only 17 years old, the youngest goaltender to ever play in the NHL.  He was in the stands and had to get into a Ranger uniform in order to play the third period.   Trailing 5-2, he backstopped the Blueshirts to a 5-3 loss, stopping all ten shots he faced from his Detroit  teammates.

Lumley ended up playing 16 seasons in the NHL for all of the Original Six teams except Montreal.  He won the Vezina Trophy in 1953-54 and in the ultimate irony, he backstopped the Red Wings to the 1950 Stanley Cup.  Who did they beat?  Of  course, the New York Rangers.   He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980.

Lester Patrick is most famous as coach of the New York Rangers.  He led the team for 13 seasons and is the only coach in franchise history to guide them to two Stanley Cup Championships.   In 1926-27, at age 43 and in his first year as coach, Patrick played in one game as a defenseman.  It was his only appearance as a player in an NHL game. He was scoreless and took one minor penalty.

It was in the playoffs a  year later that he became a legend. On April 7, 1928 in the second game of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers goalie, Lorne Chabot, suffered an eye injury.  Their opponent, the Montreal Maroons, should have allowed the Rangers to use one of their back up goalies, but they refused.  Patrick, the 44-year old general manager/coach put on the pads and he stopped 18 of 19 shots in 35:05 minutes as the Rangers won 2-1 in overtime.

Lester Patrick remains the oldest man to ever play in a Stanley Cup Final.   For the rest of the series, the Rangers signed goalie Joe Miller who had been waived by the New York Americans and they went on to win their first Stanley Cup in five games (they needed to win three games in those days).

So despite the fact that he played only one regular season game for the Rangers, Patrick is most famous for the one playoff game he played for the Blueshirts.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947.