Blueshirts Briefs: Garden salad and the biggest face off win in Rangers history

Welcome to another edition of Blueshirts Briefs, a series profiling individuals who worked a short shift for the New York Rangers.

Kevin Collins is fortunate to have escaped Madison Square Garden unscathed on the night of June 14, 1994. One of the NHL’s prominent linemen, Collins made two controversial (to be kind) icing calls inside the final 30 seconds of Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals between the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.

Collins can thank Ranger centers Mark Messier and, especially, Craig MacTavish for helping prevent what could have resulted in angry fans causing bodily harm to Collins.

Both icing calls came with the Rangers clinging to a 3-2 lead, on the precipice of the franchise’s fourth Cup title and first since 1940. Collins’ second whistle for icing came with 1.1 seconds remaining, turning a joyous crowd into an angry mob (especially after the clock was reset to 1.6 seconds for a faceoff to goalie Mike Richter’s right).

Had Pavel Bure snapped one off the draw and past Richter to tie the game, there’s no telling what might have happened in the aftermath. The same holds true if Vancouver tied it after Collins’ whistle with 28.2 seconds to go. Collins gave Vancouver both calls despite, in each instance, the puck barely making it past the goal line and the closest Canucks player clearly having slowed his skating.

Even the most ardent Ranger-haters couldn’t argue that defenseman Jeff Brown and Hall-of-Famer Bure didn’t slow down as the puck inched its way to the goal line. Fortunately for Collins (and the Rangers and their fans), Messier won the draw from Murray Craven with 28.2 seconds left, while MacTavish beat Bure at the end, sending the puck harmlessly into the corner.

“I got a call from one of my cousins in New York who said to me, ‘Do you know how many people would have killed you if the Rangers had lost?'” Collins told Lucent magazine in a 2007 feature. “I even received a four-page letter from a guy telling me how I blew that call.”

Some 20 years later, Rangers general manager Neil Smith still wasn’t quite over it, telling scoutingtherefs.com in 2014: “No one can still get over that (icing call). If you watch the replays, Bure gave up on it. We dump it down and he’s going after it and he just quits, but then he looks at Collins and goes and gets it.”

Smith is another individual who could’ve gone down had the Rangers failed to win the Cup that spring, having listened to head coach Mike Keenan’s demands for more experienced players and traded many young stars for grizzled veterans, including promising forward Todd Marchant for MacTavish on March 21, 1994.

Salad at the Garden

MacTavish, the last player allowed by the NHL to show off his salad and play without a helmet, was targeted by Keenan for his defensive prowess, ability to win faceoffs, and postseason experience. When the Rangers acquired the veteran center, he was 35 years old with a resumè that included 918 regular-season games, 141 playoff contests, and three Stanley Cup championships.

“When we made the trade for Craig, we knew it was part of the ingredients we were looking for in terms of leadership and experience,” Keenan told the Hartford Courant. “And he has an exceptional skill in terms of faceoffs. That was something we were looking for. I think if you can acquire somebody who’s really exceptional at it, it’s really a plus for your club. It was an opportunity to put another piece of the building blocks in place.”

The Rangers didn’t necessarily want to give up the 20-year-old Marchant, who in 1993-94 posted 23 goals, 39 assists, and 48 penalty minutes for the United States National Team, and two points and six PIMs in eight contests during the Winter Games. The Blueshirts also weren’t thrilled about dealing away 23-year-old Tony Amonte on the same day, sending the two-time 30-goal scorer to the Chicago Blackhawks for grinders Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan.

Obviously, the trades worked out for the Rangers.

No Ranger fan who witnessed the ’94 Cup run will ever forget “Matteau! Matteau! Mateau!” Noonan was solid when called upon, while MacTavish’s skill and poise were as advertised.

Prior to Game Seven, MacTavish lightened the mood in the room, grinning while telling reporters: “Any way you look at it, we’ll be raised to new heights. They’re either building a podium or a gallows for us.”

MacTavish helped the Rangers avoid the gallows, winning the most important faceoff on Broadway in 54 years.

Dark Days

MacTavish was drafted out of Massachusetts-Lowell by the Boston Bruins in the ninth round of the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft (153rd overall). He played 217 games for the Bruins, posting 44 goals, 66 assists, and a plus-40 rating. His best season in Beantown was in 1983-84 with 20 tallies and 23 helpers; the first of his six 20-goal NHL seasons.

However, his time in Boston ended after that 1983-84 season.

On May 4, 1984, MacTavish pleaded guilt to vehicular homicide. The 27-year-old centerman was driving home several hours after a Bruins’ practice the previous January when he rear-ended a car driven by Kim Radley on Route 1 in Peabody, some 20 miles north of Boston. The 26-year-old Radley died four days later from head injuries sustained in the crash, after which MacTavish admitted to being under the influence of alcohol.

MacTavish began serving his one-year sentence 10 days after his guilty plea. He spent two months at Salem House of Correction before being transferred to the minimum-security Correctional Alternative Center. During his time, MacTavish served as a breakfast cook for around 90 inmates and attended mandatory alcohol counseling sessions.

Radley’s family forgave MacTavish and even met with him at CAC.

“This made us feel better to think that he admitted what he did, admitted he was wrong, and he was man enough to stand up and take it,” Radley’s father, Ronald Foote, told the Chicago Tribune. ”What good are we going to do if we crucify Craig? That’s why we went. We think the whole problem is he`s an excellent young hockey player, he’s an excellent young man.”

MacTavish resumed his NHL playing career near the end of the 1985-86 season, but not with the Bruins. Instead, he opted for a fresh start and signed with the Oilers.

“I don’t think I could have really concentrated hard playing there with everything that went on,” he said. ”There are reminders of it everywhere. There it would be 10 times worse.”

After helping the Rangers win, he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers in July 1994. Almost two years later, he was traded by the Flyers to the St. Louis Blues for Dale Hawerchuk. MacTavish retired after the 1996-97 season.

In 1,093 career regular-season games, he posted 213 goals, 267 assists, 891 PIMs, and a plus-34 rating. He finished in the top-10 three times for the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward, including fourth in 1990 after winning his third Cup with the Oilers.

In 193 playoff contests, he recorded 20 goals, 38 assists, 218 PIMs, and a plus-9 rating. He played in 23 postseason matches for the Rangers, notching a goal, four assists, 22 PIMs, countless faceoff wins, and several key defensive plays.

Among all-time Oilers, he ranks fourth in shorthanded goals (29), seventh in games played (701), and tenth in goals (155). He also skated in a team-record 518 consecutive games from October 26, 1986, to January 10, 1994, ranking tenth all-time in the NHL.

Coach Craig

MacTavish was an assistant coach of the Rangers for the 1998 and ’99 seasons, then moved to Edmonton to take the same position.

On June 22, 2000, MacTavish was named head coach of the Oilers and remained behind Edmonton’s bench through 2008-09. He posted a 301-252-47 record, including two 41-win campaigns and three playoff appearances.

In 2005-06, he coached Edmonton to within one game of winning the franchise’s sixth Cup before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Seven. Fired after the 2009 season, he coached the AHL Chicago Wolves before returning to Alberta’s capital as Oilers’ general manager for two seasons.

Following his GM stint in Edmonton, MacTavish went on to coach in the Kontinental Hockey League and is now bench boss for Lausanne HC of the Swiss National League.

One of MacTavish’s funniest moments as a head coach came when he “assaulted” Calgary Flames’ mascot, Harvey the Hound.

Although Craig MacTavish will go down as a mainstay in Rangers history and is featured on every 1994 team highlight reel, he played only 12 regular season games for the team.  He’ll be best know for the 23 playoff games that spring and that key faceoff win that gained him Blueshirts immortality.