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Iced at the Igloo: The 1991-92 New York Rangers

By Scott Esposito

MONTREAL, CANADA - CIRCA 1990: John Vanbiesbrouck #34 of the New York Rangers slides to make a save on a shot by Chris Chelios #24 of the Montreal Canadiens Circa 1990 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Denis Brodeur/NHLI via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, CANADA - CIRCA 1990: John Vanbiesbrouck #34 of the New York Rangers slides to make a save on a shot by Chris Chelios #24 of the Montreal Canadiens Circa 1990 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Denis Brodeur/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Center Mark Messier #11 of the New York Rangers . (Photo By Dave Sandford/Getty Images) /

A “Devil” of a time

The Rangers stormed through the regular season with the NHL’s best record. Their rivals from across the Hudson River, the New Jersey Devils, grabbed the fourth and final playoff spot in the Patrick Division with a 38-31-11 record and 87 points.

Despite the 18-point disparity between the two,  the Rangers barely won the season series, 4-3. Now, they had to face the Devils in the division semifinals.

The pressure to win was entirely on the Blueshirts. The Devils had nothing to lose. They could change their style and take more chances at their whim. And if they lost, so what? They weren’t expected to take the series, anyway.

Sure enough, New Jersey earned a split of the first two tilts at Madison Square Garden, then fed off the Meadowlands’ crowd’s incessant chants of “19-40!” to take Game Three. New York won the next two contests and took a 3-2 series lead into Game Six in the swamp. Facing elimination, the Devils forced a seventh game with a 5-3  victory in which the rivals combined for 156 minutes in penalties.

Game 7 proved a prime example of why the Rangers traded for Messier. Game Seven? High intensity? Immense pressure? No worries. Been there many times, done all that. Not surprisingly, “Moose” came through with two goals and an assist to lead New York to an 8-4 win at the Garden. Darren Turcotte and Adam Graves also scored twice.

Although the score indicates otherwise, the Blueshirts actually maintained their tradition of making games closer than necessary and, consequently, causing their fans to sweat.

Leetch’s short-handed goal at 13:34 of the middle period made it 6-1. Game over, right? Not quite. Bill Guerin got one back for New Jersey just before the second intermission. Claude Lemieux scored nearly eight minutes into the final frame, and with 9:50 to play, Pat Conacher’s shorty brought the Devils within 6-4.

Turcotte eased some of the palpable tension among Rangers fans with his second goal of the match with 5:24 remaining. Messier’s empty-netter sealed the victory and left many Blueshirts fans with an overwhelming feeling of relief.

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