December 31 in NYR history: Ending the month undefeated

Only once in their history have the New York Rangers not lost a game in December

What happened on December 31 in  the history of the New York Rangers

The date was December 31, 1939.  The opponent was the New York Americans.  When the New York Rangers hosted the Americans at Madison Square Garden, they were trying to do something that they had never done before and will probably never do again.  They were trying to go undefeated in the month of December.

It was actually pretty easy as they beat the Americans 5-2.  The Rangers were up 4-0 after two periods on goals by Lynn Patrick, Alf Pike, Clint Smith and Bryan Hextall and after allowing the Americans to score twice in the third period, Clint Smith got his second goal to ice the win.  It gave the Rangers an undefeated month as they won seven and tied three games.

It would have been difficult to predict that record as the Rangers had won only three games in November, going 3-3-4 that month.

The Rangers went 17-8-3 in 1940  to finish in second place, but they would go on to win two playoff series in six games each against the Bruins and Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup.

Just like old times

On New Year’s Eve in 2011, the alumni from the Philadelphia Flyers beat a team of former Blueshirts 3-1, outdoors at Citizens Bank Park in front of 45,808 fans. It was the Mark Messier Rangers vs. the Eric Lindros Flyers and featured an all star squad of alumni.

For Lindros, it was a triumphant return to Philadelphia after being banished in a trade to the Rangers 20 years before after a nasty battle with Flyers’ GM Bobby Clarke.

For the coaches, it was a return to the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals as Pat Quinn coached the Flyers with Mike Keenan behind the bench for the Rangers. The Flyer goals came from John LeClair, Mark Howe and Shjon Podein while the sole Ranger goal came from Glenn Anderson.

The alumni game was a precursor to the main event, the game between the Rangers and Flyers on January 2.

Today’s birthdays

No player who has worn a Rangers jersey has ever been born on December 31, but one player has hopes that he will be the first.

In 1998, forward Jake Elmer was born in Calgary, Alberta.  Elmer played last year in Hartford after being signed in March 2019 as an undrafted free agent who was playing for the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Elmer spent most of the season with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL where he scored 12 goals and had 23 points in 36 games.

The numbers

The Rangers have traditionally played on New Year’s Eve with 57 games in their 94 seasons.  The only thing is that in regulation they have won only one more game than they have lost.

Games: 57
Regulation wins: 23
Regulation losses: 22
Ties: 8
Overtime wins: 2
Overtime losses  1
Shootout wins: 1
Points percentage:  .535

Looking back

Every day we look back at games played on this date last year as well as five and ten years ago.  There were no games in 2015 or 2010, but last year the Rangers played  a humdinger in Edmonton.

Last year, 2019:  Edmonton 7, Rangers 5

From the score, the Rangers took a beating, but the game was what would be called a “character loss.”   How?  The Blueshirts almost came back from a 6-0 deficit, a feat that would have been one of the best in NHL history.

The Oilers scored the game’s first six goals, chasing Alexandar Georgiev after 35 minutes of play.  Henrik Lundqvist shut the Oilers out as the Rangers tried to climb an insurmountable mountain.  Chris Kreider got the Rangers started with less than a minute left in the second period.

The third period was all New York as Ryan Strome, Marc Staal, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad all scored, drawing the Rangers within a goal, 6-5.   Only an empty net goal by Kailer Yamamoto could prevent the Rangers from an unlikely comeback.

The game unraveled for the Rangers in the second period when they took seven minor penalties to two for the Oilers.  Edmonton scored two power play goals include a hat trick goal by James Neal.

So the Rangers ended 2019 on a sour note, but with reasons to be encouraged.

5 years ago, 2015: No game

10 years ago, 2010: No game