December 9, 2020: This day in New York Rangers history

Five years since the last New York Rangers successful penalty shot

What happened on December 9 in the history of the New York Rangers

Believe it or not, the last time a New York Rangers player scored on a penalty shot was five years ago on this date.    It was defenseman Dan Boyle who scored on his first penalty shot in 1,042 NHL games.   It was a pretty straightforward shot as he moved in on Canucks goalie Ryan Miller, made the deke and put it past the sprawled netminder.

Despite Boyle’s heroics, the Rangers lost 2-1 in Vancouver.

Since that goal the Rangers have failed on six straight attempts, a five year drought.  Since the penalty shot was instituted in the 1934-35 season, the longest period without a Rangers penalty shot goal was 10 years and 11 months from November 1945 to October 1956.  That was also the longest period of time when the team was not awarded a penalty shot.

Fans at Madison Square Garden have not seen a successful penalty shot since February 2010 when Sean Avery scored.  The last attempt was last February when Julien Gauthier missed against the San Jose Sharks.

Today’s birthday

On this date in 1971, Petr Nedved was born in Liberec, Czechoslovakia.   Nedved played 478 games for the Blueshirts over seven seasons in two different stints with the team.  He was the third player from Czechoslovakia to play for the team after Vaclav Nedomansky and Miloslav Horava.

He was acquired from St. Louis in 1994 for Esa Tikkanen and Doug Lidster, but found himself out of favor with Mark Messier who was instrumental in his trade to Pittsburgh the next summer.  That was the deal that included Sergei Zubov in exchange for Ulf Samuelsson and Luc Robitaille.

The Rangers got him back from Pittsburgh in exchange for Alex Kovalev in 1998 after Messier had left the team.  He scored 149 goals and had 351 points in 478 games for New York.

Petr Nedved is in the Rangers record books with three hat tricks in 1999-00, second most in one season in franchise history.   His six career hat tricks are tied for third most in franchise history. His Ranger career total of eight shorthanded goals is good for ninth place overall in team history.

A first for the Coyotes

On this date in 1996, the Phoenix Coyotes played their first game at Madison Square Garden after the team had relocated from Winnipeg.  The Rangers won easily, 5-2, behind two goals by Niklas Sundstrom and three assists for Wayne Gretzky.

The Garden is a house of horrors for the Coyotes.  Since that day in 1996, they have played 18 games at MSG and have won only four, going 4-10-4 in that time.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 36 times on December 9 in franchise history.  They are over .500 for the date with only 11 regulation losses.

Games:  36
Regulation wins:  14
Regulation losses:  11
Ties:  8
Overtime wins: 2
Overtime losses:  1
Points percentage:   .569

Looking back

On each day, we look back at what the Rangers did one, five and ten years ago. They didn’t play last season, but had a notable effort in 2015 and a come from behind win a decade ago.

Last year – 2019:  No game

Five years ago – 2015:  Vancouver 2, Rangers 1

This was the game in Vancouver with the Dan Boyle penalty shot mentioned above. The Blueshirts held the lead into the third period, but goals by Daniel Sedin and Alex Edler put the game out of reach, despite a coach’s challenge on the Sedin goal.  It was the Ranger’s fifth loss in eight games and dropped their record to 18-8-3.

Ten years ago – 2010:  Rangers 5, Ottawa 3

The Rangers came back three times after falling behind by one goal and won 5-3 on Marian Gaborik’s two goals and two assists.  The Rangers allowed two power play goals on four attempts, but the Rangers took the lead for good on a Michael Sauer power play tally 15 minutes into the third period.   The win improved the Rangers record to 17-12-1, good for third place in the Atlantic Division.