January 9 in NYR history: Farewell to Espo

The New York Rangers said good-bye to one of the greatest scorers in NHL history

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

On this date in 1981, Phil Esposito played his last NHL game, retiring as the second greatest scorer in NHL history.   The game itself, a 3-3 tie with the Buffalo Sabres at Madison Square Garden was a humdrum affair, but every time Esposito touched the puck, he drew cheers from the crowd of 17,407 fans.

Coach Craig Patrick kept him on the ice for 22:09, the most of any game Esposito had played, in an effort for him to score in his last game, but he could only manage one assist.  He had four shots on goal and was on ice for all three Ranger goals, getting the assist on a tally by Dean Talafous.

With the point, Esposito retired with 717 goals and 873 assists for 1,590 points in 1,282 games.  At the time, he was second all time to Gordie Howe.  He now stands sixth all time in goals and 10th overall in points.

Before the game there was a ceremony that included Gordie Howe announcing that his number 77 would be retired (according to the New York Times).   There’s no record of that actually becoming official.   There were speeches from Walt Tkaczuk and Carol Vadnais and Esposito himself spoke,

Esposito spoke about the big trade from Boston.  ”My world seemed to shatter when I was traded from Boston. But after the initial shock I fell in love with New York, with the city. Fate works in funny ways. You people up there, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Esposito became an assistant coach and the following season began a career as a hockey broadcaster.

Today’s birthdays

27 NHL players have been born on January 9 and five wore the Rangers jersey. Two hold franchise records.

Ken McAuley was a goalie born on this date in 1921 in Edmonton, Alberta.   He was the Rangers number on goalie for two years during WWII.   His won-lost record has to be among the worst in NHL history as he went 17-64-15.   His 39 losses in 1943-44 is a franchise record that may never be equaled.

On this date in 1961, Jim Wiemer was born in Sudbury, Ontario.  Wiemer was a defenseman who played 29 games with the Rangers over two seasons in the mid 1980s.   He scored three goals in those 29 games, but it was one goal that he is famous for.  On March 27, 1985, he scored a goal just nine seconds into a game, an unassisted tally in a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

That was the fast goal ever scored at the beginning of a game by a New York Ranger. He tied the record previously set by Fred Cook and tied by Jean Ratelle and Ron Duguay. That’s nowhere near the NHL record of five seconds.

On January 9, 1958, Rob McClanahan was born in St. Paul, Minnesota.  While McClanahan, a center, played just over two years in New York, he is famous as a member of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” USA hockey team.  He was reunited with coach Herb Brooks on the Rangers in the 1981-82 season and scored 22 goals in his one full season in New York, 1982-83.

Does anyone remember Raphael Diaz, a Swiss defenseman who played for the Rangers in 2013-14?   He was born on this date in 1986 in Baar, Switzerland and joined the team at the trade deadline in 2014 as a depth defenseman.  He played 11 games that season and most folks don’t remember that he actually played in one game in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Los Angeles Kings as a seventh defenseman.

Anders Eriksson was born on this date in 1975 in Bollnas, Sweden.  He was a trade deadline acquisition in March 2010 and played eight games for the Blueshirts after spending the previous 11 seasons in the NHL with seven other teams. After the season he left to finish his playing career in Sweden.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 41 times on January 9 and are close to a .500 record except for a winless record in overtime and shootouts.

Games: 41
Regulation wins: 16
Regulation losses: 18
Ties: 4
Overtime losses: 2
Shootout losses: 1
Points percentage:  .476

Looking back

Every day we look back at games one, five and ten years ago.  Last year’s game featured an individual performance that ranks with one of the best in franchise history.

Last year – 2020: Rangers 6, Devils 3

Tony DeAngelo had one of the greatest games for a Rangers defenseman. He became the fourth Rangers defenseman to score a hat trick and his five points tied the franchise record set by Brian Leetch.

It was the regular season first hat trick in 37 years for a defenseman and he joined Brad Park, Reijo Ruotsalainen and Brian Leetch as the only to accomplish he feat.  His five points tied Leetch who had done it twice before.   DeAngelo’s previous individual  career game highs had been two goals and two points.

Igor Shesterkin made 46 saves in only his second NHL start.  DeAngelo scored once in the first period and twice in the second period and had reached the five point total 15 minutes into the second period.

5 years ago – 2016: Washington 4, Rangers 3 (Overtime)

Alex Ovechkin continued his tormenting of the Rangers, scoring his 499th career goal  just 1:25 minutes into overtime.  He had also scored an unassisted goal in the first period.  This was a bad loss by the Rangers as they allowed the Capitals to tie the game with just six seconds left on a goal by Nicklas Backstrom.  This was after the Blueshirts had come back from a 2-0 deficit with three third period goals.

10 years ago – 2011: No game