December 11, 2020: This day in New York Rangers history

On this date, a pair of firsts (though one really wasn’t)

What happened on December 11 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1941 the New York Rangers played the first game in franchise history in the borough of Brooklyn as they took on the Brooklyn Americans and won 5-3. Only they didn’t.  And World War II was to blame.

The fact is the Rangers played the Brooklyn Americans at Madison Square Garden as the away team.   The reason was that although the Americans predated the Rangers in the NHL, they were the “second” team at MSG and wanted their own arena.  Red Dutton of the Amerks decided to move the team to Brooklyn in 1939.  Unfortunately, with the outbreak of the war, there wasn’t enough steel available to construct an arena and when the team was renamed the Brooklyn Americans in 1941, they had to play that season in their usual Madison Square Garden home.

The whole story is laid out in the book Metro Ice, by Stan Fischler and Tom Sarro.  They describe how the team actually did practice in Brooklyn, at the Brooklyn Ice Palace located at the intersection of Atlantic and Bedford Avenues.

Unfortunately, even with the new name, the team finished in last place in the NHL and suspended operations, citing the war as the reason.  They never were able to get started again and officially gave up any attempts to revive the franchise in 1946.

The Rangers played the Brooklyn Americans eight times that final season, going 5-2-1.   They were undefeated as the “away” team with a record of 3-0-1.

The Rangers would not make their debut in the borough of Brooklyn until 2015. So, it was a first, but a strange one.

Hello Sunshine State

On this date in 1992, the Rangers played a regular season game in the state of Florida for the first time.  They played the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning in Expo Hall, a small arena at the Florida State Fairgrounds that the team used in their first season.  It could hold only 10,425 fans.

The Rangers won 5-3 on a goal by rookie Steven King.  James Patrick scored the 100th goal of his Ranger career.

This was not the first time the Rangers played in Florida. In September 1990 the Blueshirts met the Los Angeles Kings in an exhibition game in Miami.  They played preseason games against the Capitals in Miami and Orlando the following season.

Hello, Kevin Lowe

The same day that the Rangers beat Tampa, Rangers’ GM Neil Smith announced that they had traded for and signed defenseman Kevin Lowe.  The deal had actually been made five days earlier, but was contingent on his signing a contract with the Blueshirts.  This was the date that the trade was officially recorded as Lowe came to an agreement with the Rangers.

Lowe joined fellow former Oilers Mark Messier, Jeff Beukeboom and Esa Tikkanen on the team as one of the key pieces of the 1994 Stanley Cup champions.  The future Hall of Famer had held out the first two months of the season, forcing the trade.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 37 times on December 11th in franchise history.   Their record is decidedly unremarkable.

Games:  37
Regulation wins:  15
Regulation losses:  18
Ties:  2
Overtime wins: 1
Shootout losses:  1
Points percentage:   .473

Looking back

On each day, we look back at what the Rangers did one, five and ten years ago. While they didn’t play last season, they did play a memorable game five years ago after losing badly in their game in 2010.

Last year – 2019:  No game

Five years ago – 2015:  Edmonton 7, Rangers 5

It was Glen Sather night on December 11, 2015, but the result wasn’t what the Rangers GM wanted as the Oilers beat the Rangers 7-5.  The 12 goals were the most scored in a game played by the Blueshirts in the 2015-16 season and was reminiscent of the Oilers glory days in the 1980s.

The Rangers came back from a two goal deficit in the second period to tie before falling behind again.  Rick Nash tied the score with less than two minutes left on a power play goal. Only 12 seconds later, Taylor Hall put the Oilers ahead and former Ranger Lauri Korpikoski iced the game with an empty net goal, his second goal of the game.

On this date in 2010, the Rangers lost to the Blue Jackets on two goals by Rick Nash.  Marc Staal had put the Blueshirts ahead about ten minutes into the second period, but Antoine Vermette tied the score six minutes later and Nash added two third period goals for the win.  In his career, Nash scored eight goals in nine games against the Rangers.