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Part Two: New York Rangers teams that (somehow) didn’t win the Cup

By Scott Esposito

Canadian professional ice hockey player Pete Stemkowski #21 of the New York Rangers skates on the ice during a game at Madison Square Garden as opponent Guy Lapointe (left) of the Montreal Canadiens approaches at some distance, New York, 1970s. Stemkowski played for the Rangers from 1971 to 1977. (Photo by Melchior DiGiacomo/Getty Images)
Canadian professional ice hockey player Pete Stemkowski #21 of the New York Rangers skates on the ice during a game at Madison Square Garden as opponent Guy Lapointe (left) of the Montreal Canadiens approaches at some distance, New York, 1970s. Stemkowski played for the Rangers from 1971 to 1977. (Photo by Melchior DiGiacomo/Getty Images) /
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Walt Tkaczuk (#18) and Bill Fairbairn of the New York Rangers (Photo by Melchior DiGiacomo/Getty Images) /

The New York Rangers have won four Stanley Cups in their storied history and lost in the Finals seven times.  In 1971 they had a golden opportunity, but bad luck and timing beset them one more time.

This is the second in our series looking at some of the greatest New York Rangers team to not win a Stanley Cup.  The 1970-71 New York Rangers seemed destined to end a Cup drought going back to 1940, but fell short.

1971

As the New York Rangers and their fans know all too well, the Boston Bruins and Bobby Orr dominated the NHL in first half of the 1970s.

Boston eliminated the Blueshirts in the 1970 playoffs en route to winning the franchise’s fourth Stanley Cup, and two years later would break the hearts of the Rangers and their faithful in the Cup finals, beating New York in six games.

In 1970-71, the Bruins were poised to repeat as NHL champions after leading the league’s regular season with 57 wins, 121 points and 399 goals.

However, Boston’s long-time nemesis, the Montreal Canadiens, had other plans.

After finishing with 97 points, the fourth-best in the league’s regular season, Les Habitants upset the Bruins in seven games in the opening round of the playoffs.

The Bruins posted a 33-4-2 record at the Boston Garden that season, but the Canadiens won there twice in the series, including Game Seven, stunning Boston and, frankly, the entire hockey world.

With Boston eliminated, the Rangers seemed to have finally caught a huge break and at the right time.

The Blueshirts had quite the regular season, themselves, finishing in second place in the East Division with a 49-18-11 record for 109 points, second-most in the league.

They set franchise records for wins, goals (259), power-play tallies (30), and 20-goal scorers (seven), and for longest home undefeated streak (26, 19-0-7, including the final two matches of 1969-70), home victories (30), home points (67) and fewest home losses (2).

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