December 3, 2020: This day in New York Rangers history

A memorable night for the New York Rangers in Boston

December 3, 1987 was one of the most memorable nights in New York Rangers history, but it was because of a tribute paid by the Boston Bruins.   The Blueshirts were in Boston to play the Bruins and it was a big night for Rangers General Manager Phil Esposito, the retiring of his number seven.

The event had been planned ahead and there was to be a pre-game ceremony with the Bruins honoring their ex-superstar.  The big surprise was when Ray Bourque skated over to Esposito and took his jersey off and gave it to Espo.  Bourque had worn number seven since breaking into the NHL in 1979 and in a surprise move he relinquished the number to wear number 77 the rest of his career.  The belief had been that the number seven would not be officially retired until Bourque stopped playing.

Ray Bourque describes the day in this clip.

While Esposito was touched by the gesture, he probably would have wished that the Rangers won the game.  The Bruins won 4-3 on three late goals.

Esposito remains one of the greatest Bruins of all time.  In eight years as a Bruin he was a first or second team All-Star every year while winning the Hart and Pearson Trophies twice each and leading the league in scoring five times.  His trade to New York in 1975 along with Carol Vadnais in exchange for Brad Park and Jean Ratelle is still considered to be the biggest NHL trade of all time.

Ironically, while a Ranger, he was never able to wear number seven as it belonged to Rod Gilbert.  In his days in New York, Esposito wore numbers five and twelve before finishing with number 77.

Two MSG firsts

December 3rd saw two teams make their Madison Square Garden debuts.  In 1967 the expansion Los Angeles Kings played at the Garden for the first time with the Rangers winning 4-2.  The game was at the third iteration of the Garden, know as Madison Square Garden III.   The Rangers were led by Phil Goyette who scored two goals against the Kings who were in first place in the West.

The game is also notable because a shoe salesman named Saul Maslow had to take to the ice as a replacement linesman when referee Bruce Hood was injured. Maslow also served as an off-ice official and was the designated replacement whenever an official was injured.   He had just come from a wedding and his appearance on the ice shocked his wife who was in the stands. The good news is Hood was able to return in the third period so Maslow only worked part of the second period.

Five years later, on December 3, 1972, the Atlanta Flames made their Garden debut (at the present arena), losing to the Rangers 3-2.  The Blueshirts pulled out a tough contest when Rod Gilbert scored with just over two minutes left in the game, breaking the tie.

Rangers coach Emile Francis went nuts at the end of the game when an apparent empty net goal was waved off and the Rangers ruled offside.   Francis thought the Flames had too many men on the ice and that the goal should have been awarded automatically.

While he was wrong on his interpretation and his protestations drew a two minute penalty and an automatic $200 fine since he left the bench to argue.  After the game near the locker rooms he charged after referee Bryan Lewis, but was restrained by Flames coach Boom Boom Geoffrion.   They knew each other well as Francis had hired and fired Geoffrion as coach of the Rangers three years prior.

Two hat tricks

Two of the top scorers in NHL history registered hat tricks on December 3 as members of the New York Rangers.  On December 3, 2002, Pavel Bure got his only hat trick as a Ranger in a 5-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden.

Bure notched two first period goals and scored his third with two minutes left in the game.  He also added an assist.  Bure was a gifted scorer with bad knees who was limited to only 39 games in his one full season in New York. He still scored 19 goals that season, including this three goal effort.  Bure had 21 hat tricks in his career.

On December 3, 2006, Brendan Shanahan got the 19th and final hat trick of his career and his only one as a member of the Rangers.  Shanahan’s effort was for naught as the Blueshirts lost 7-4 to the Islanders at the Garden.  Kevin Weekes took the loss in relief of Henrik Lundqvist who allowed the first four Islander goals.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 36 games on December 3 in their history.  It hasn’t been a good day for them. Here are the numbers:

Regulation wins:  12
Regulation losses:  18
Ties:  4
Overtime wins: 1
Shootout wins: 1
Points percentage:   .444

Looking back

On each day, we look back at what the Rangers did one, five and ten years ago.  They didn’t play on December 3 last season, but split the games they played five and ten years ago.

Last year, 2019 – No game

Five years ago,  2015 –  Colorado 2, Rangers 1

In the second game of back-to-backs, the Rangers lost to the Avalanche 2-1 at Madison Square Garden.  Semyon Varlamov outdueled Antti Raanta for the win as the Rangers were unable to score until Oscar Lindberg was able to score with 50 seconds left in the game and the goalie pulled.   The Rangers record was 17-7-3 while the Avalanche improved to 11-14-1.

Ten years ago, 2010 – Rangers 2, Islanders 0

Henrik Lundqvist registered his third shutout of the season and was the number one star as the Rangers beat the Islander 2-0 at Madison Square Garden.  It was the second game of a home and home series against the Isles and the Rangers swept the series.

Marc Staal scored four minutes into the second period for the first goal of the game and Lundqvist made the lead hold up until Brian Boyle put in an empty net goal with three seconds left.   The Swedish goalie played in both games as he came into the game the night before in relief of Martin Biron.