On December 26 in NYR history: Down 5 goals, the biggest comeback ever

The biggest comeback in New York Rangers history

What happened on December 26th in the history of the New York Rangers

If you were watching the Rangers on this date in 1991 and you didn’t turn the television off after the first period, you saw something you will never forget.  Down 6-1 in the first period, the Rangers rallied with seven straight goals and won in the biggest comeback in franchise history.  The fact that they did it on the road is even more remarkable.

The Capitals came out and shelled Mike Richter, scoring six goals in just under 19 minutes.   The Blueshirts had tied the game a 1-1 on a Mark Messier goal,  but from then on it looked like it was going to be a massacre.   The Rangers took three penalties in the first period, but it was a Joe Cirella slash on Dino Ciccarelli that was the killer. Cirella was tossed from the game and given a five minute major and the Caps scored thee times for a 4-1 lead.  One more even strength goal and then came the dagger in the heart, a shorthanded goal by Michal Pivonka.  It gave Pivonka a hat trick and the shorthanded goal game him one of each kind as he had scored at even strength and on the power play.

When John Ogrodnick scored with one second left in the first period, it drew the Rangers within four goals, but it looked to be a meaningless tally.

Joe Kocur scored the only goal of the second period as John Vanbiesbrouck took over in net, but trailing 6-3 going into the third period, it looked like a sure loss against the first place Capitals.

Then, the miracle happened. Darren Turcotte score 2:10 into the period, making it 6-4.  Paul Broten scored a shorthanded goal at 5:41 to pull the Rangers within one. At 11:07, Kris King tied the game as the stunned fans fell silent.  Former Capital Mike Gartner put the Rangers ahead at 12:07 and Sergei Nemchinov sealed the win with the seventh straight goal into an open net.

Mike Liut was in goal for Washington as the Rangers outshot the Caps 31-7 over the last two periods.  The win gave the Blueshirts a seven game winning streak and a share of first place with the Capitals.

Without a doubt, this was one of the memorable games ever played by the New York Rangers.

On the road, but not on the road

On this date in 1926, the New York Rangers were the road team for the first time in their history while playing at Madison Square Garden.  They shared the arena with the New York Americans and this was one of two road games at the Garden in their inaugural season.  The American prevailed 5-2.   The Blueshirts did win their second game in February.

A milestone for Gartner

On this date in 1993, Mike Gartner became the sixth NHL player to score 600 goals.  He scored twice to get to 601 in an 8-3 win over the New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden.  He retired with 708 career goals, 173 with the Blueshirts.   As of 2020, there have now been 20 players who have reached the 600 goal milestone.

Czechmate

On this date in1977 two teams from Czechoslovakia and one team from Russia began a tour of the United States.  The first game was between Poldi Kladno and the Rangers  and it ended in a 4-4 tie before 10,123 fans at Madison Square Garden.

Dave Maloney scored the tying goal with 15 second left and the goalie pulled. As was common at the time, the Czech team played with finesse and the Rangers tried to bludgeon them into submission.   Nick Fotiu pummelled Czech defender Jan Neliba in the third period and Fotiu, Pat Hickey and Carol Vadnais threw body checks with abandon.

This was the first time New Yorkers got a look at Peter and Marian Stastny who played for Poldi Kladno.   Peter Stastny made headlines when he and his brother Anton, defected in 1980 to join the Quebec Nordiques. They were two of the first star hockey players to defect from the eastern bloc to the west.

Today’s birthdays

Mark Heaslip is the only New York Ranger to be born on this date. He was born on December 26, 1951 in Duluth, Minnesota. Heaslip was an undrafted right winger out of Minnesota-Duluth who played two season for the Rangers.  He scored six goals and 16 points in 48 games for New York from 1976-78.

The numbers

While the comeback from Washington is the greatest memory on December 26, the Blueshirts have not fared on this date with only 16 wins in regulation out of 46 games.

Games: 46
Regulation wins: 16
Regulation losses: 23
Ties: 4
Overtime losses:  3
Points percentage

Looking back

Every day we look back at games on this date last year and five and ten years ago.  The Rangers didn’t play on December 26 on any of those dates.