January 3 in NYR History: Beezer’s return to MSG

Former New York Rangers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck returned to the Garden for the first time

What happened on January 3 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1994, the expansion Florida Panthers played their first game at Madison Square Garden, losing to the Rangers 3-2.  What made the game notable was it marked the return of John Vanbiesbrouck to Madison Square Garden, the arena he had called home for nine years.

With the NHL expanding to Florida and Anaheim, the Rangers could protect only one goalie and they had two in Vanbiesbrouck and 27-year old Mike Richter.  Faced with that tough decision, they picked Richer and traded the 30-year-old Vanbiesbrouck to Vancouver for future considerations (Doug Lidster).  Vancouver had Kirk McLean set as their netminder and needed to expose a goalie so they made the trade.

Florida had the first pick in the draft and they selected the former Ranger.  It was a solid choice as he played five years for the Panthers, leading them to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996.  Incidentally, that was the last time the Panthers have won a playoff series.

While Mike Richter was the winning goalie in this game, Vanbiesbrouck was the star as he faced 54 shots, stopping 51 of them.  It was the only time he faced over 50 shots in the entire season and he earned an ovation from the crowd when he was named second star of the game.  The 54 shots was the most he faced in 882 NHL games.

The first two Ranger goals came from unlikely sources as defenseman Jeff Beukeboom scored in the first period and enforcer Joe Kocur scored in the second.   The teams were tied going into the third period when Adam Graves scored the game winning power play goal just 43 seconds into the period.

After leaving the Rangers, Vanbiesbrouck was to play 33 games against his former teammates and had a 15-11-6 record with a .918 Save Percentage and a 2.47 Goals Against Average.

This game was also a return for Joe Cirella who had also been drafted by the Panthers from the Rangers and also for Panthers coach Roger Neilson who had been fired almost exactly one year before (January 4) as coach of the Blueshirts.

Today’s birthdays

No Rangers greats among the Blueshirts born on January 3, but one was a late round draft pick who had several good years in New York

Mike York was born in Waterford, Michigan on January 3, 1978.  A sixth round draft pick in 1997, he came out of nowhere to make the team in 1999 and scored a team-leading 26 goals as a 22-year-old rookie.  He followed that with seasons of 14, 20, and 18 goals before being shipped to Edmonton for Tom Poti.  He played seven more years in the NHL, but never achieved the scoring heights he had with the Rangers.

Sometimes a team will draft along bloodlines and the Rangers did that when they selected Ryan Bourque in the third round of the 2009 draft.  Bourque was born on this date in 1991 in Boxford, Mass.  to his proud dad, Bruins superstar Ray Bourque.  Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off as Ryan played only one game in the NHL, for the Rangers.  He did play nine productive years in the AHL.

Cory Cross was a defenseman born on this date in 1971 in Lloydminster, Alberta.   He was a free agent signed by New York and play most of one season before he was traded to Edmonton along with Radek Dvorak for Anson Carter.

Real Lemieux was born this date in 1945 in Victoriaville, Quebec, and he had two stints with the Blueshirts, the first in 1969-70 and then again in 1973-74, both times in trades with the Los Angeles Kings.  The left winger scored four goals in 63 games as a Ranger.

Moe Morris was a defenseman born on January 3, 1921 in Toronto.  He played 18 games in the 1948-49 season in New York.

Norm Tustin was another player born on January 3, in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1919.  He was a left wing who played 18 games during the war years for the Rangers, his only games in the NHL.

The numbers

The Rangers have a plus .500 record on January 3 in 39 games.

Games: 39
Regulation wins: 17
Regulation losses: 13
Ties: 8
Overtime losses  1
Points percentage:  .551

Looking back

Every day we look back at games played on this date last season, five and ten years ago.  The were no Ranger games on any of those dates.