On January 11 in NYR history: Gump’s first shutout

The first shutout for New York Rangers legend Gump Worsley

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

On this date in 1953, rookie goalie Gump Worsley got his first shutout, a 7-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden. He finished the season with two shutouts en route to winning the Calder Trophy as top rookie.

It was one of the biggest wins of the season for the last place Blueshirts.   Worsley played due to an injury to Chuck Rayner, the top Ranger’ goalie.  He made 28 saves and stopped three Habs power plays, thrilling the Garden crowd of 12,506.

Worsley played ten years with the Rangers, registering 24 of his 43 career shutuouts.  He was traded to Montreal in 1963 and went on to win two Vezina Trophies and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980.

A coaching change

On this date in 1974, General Manager Emile Francis fired coach Larry Popein just 41 games into his first year as coach. Francis had a habit of firing coaches and taking their place behind the bench and this was the third time he did it.

Popein had guided the team to a 18-14-9 record and fourth place in the East Division.  After taking over, Francis took the team to a 22-10-5 record and a third place finish.  Francis said he made the change because Popein was unable to motivate the team.

Just two years after losing in the Stanley Cup Finals, the 1974-75 Rangers were seen as the NHL’s “fat cats” as they had doled out large salaries to keep players from defecting to the World Hockey Association.  To the chagrin of most NHL teams, the Rangers had nine players who reportedly made over $100,000 a year with Brad Park topping out at $200,000.

Popein had played as a Rangers center for seven years from 1954 to 1961. His firing took place after a road loss in Buffalo.  Francis announced it on the team bus when they arrived at the Toronto airport after spending the night in that city after the Buffalo game.   The team knew something was up when Popein didn’t take his customary seat on the team bus on the way to the airport.

Two firsts in Canada over 50 years apart

In 1927 on this date, the Rangers played the Montreal Maroons at the Forum for the first time in franchise history. The Rangers won, 3-2.   It wasn’t the Blueshirts’ first game at the Forum as they had played the Canadiens there in November.

The Maroons shared the Forum with the Canadiens for 14 years from 1924 to 1938 before shutting down.  They did win two Stanley Cups and were the last non-Original Six team to win the up (in 1935) until the Philadelphia Flyers in 1974.

In 1980 on January 11, the Rangers made their first trip to Edmonton to play the Oilers who had joined the NHL when the WHA merged prior to the season.  The Rangers won 6-2. They were able to hold Wayne Gretzky to just one assist.  Gretzky was still 19, not turning 20 until January 26.

Although Gretzky finished the season with 51 goals and 137 points, he didn’t have much success against the Rangers with only two assists in four games.  It didn’t last.  Over the next 42 games against New York, the Great One had 34 goals and 45 assists.

Today’s birthdays

23 NHL players were born on January 11 including two New York Rangers including one of the best netminders in Blueshirt history.

In 1910, goalie Dave Kerr was born in Toronto, Ontario.  Kerr was one of the Rangers greatest goalies, playing seven years in New York, winning a Vezina Trophy and being named to the All-Star team twice.  He led the team to the 1940 Stanley Cup with an 8-4 record and three shutouts.  That was the Cup the Blueshirts won while playing most of their home games on the road due to being displaced by the circus.

Kerr also played briefly with the New York Americans and Montreal Maroons, but he made his name with the Rangers.  He was an iron man, playing all 48 games for the team for five straight seasons.

In 11 years he had a lifetime record of 204-149-76 with 51 shutouts and a stellar career Goals Against Average (GAA) of 2.14  He led the league in GAA in 1939-40, shutouts twice,  in games played six times and was in the top ten in wins in the league 10 times.  His 204 wins rank 89th all time.

Kerr was the first hockey player to appear on the cover of Time Magazine on March 14, 1938.

Kerr retired at age 31 after a contract dispute with the Rangers, choosing to quit rather than play for the $10,000 salary he was offered.

There is an argument to be made for Kerr to be in the Hall of Fame. Goalies in the HOF who won fewer games include Clint Benedict and Alec Connell while Bill Durnan had four more wins.  Kerr had a better career GAA than Benedict and Durnan and more lifetime shutouts than Durnan.

As far as Ranger lore, Kerr is the only Ranger goaltender to win a Stanley Cup and also win the Vezina Trophy.

Fred Thurier was a center born on this date in 1916 in Granby, Quebec.  He played one full season with the Rangers as well as a handful of games with the Americans.  He is part of a select group of only five players who played for both the New York Rangers and the Brooklyn Americans, mostly because the Brooklyn team existed for only one year.

If you ever want to win a trivia contest, the five players are Thurier, Pat Egan, Joe Krol, Norm Larson and goalie Chuck Rayner.

The numbers

With 18 wins in 31 games on this date, January has been a very good day for the Rangers.

Games: 31
Regulation wins: 18
Regulation losses: 10
Ties: 2
Overtime losses: 1
Points percentage:  .629

Looking back

Every day we look back at game played on this date last year as well as five and 10 years ago.  The Rangers were in action all three days with mixed results and two goaltending duels.

Last year – 2020:  St. Louis 5, Rangers 2

On this date in 2020, the three headed goalie monster experiment came to a crashing halt when Henrik Lundqvist lost to the Blues, 5-2.   The Swede would get only two more regular season starts as he was supplanted in the rotation by Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev.

The Rangers were dispatched easily bu the Stanley Cup champions on their home ice as the Blues won for the eighth straight time at home. The Rangers jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Filip Chytil goal just 1:34 minutes into the game, but it was all Blues after that.

5 years ago – 2016:  Rangers 2, Boston 1

This was a classic New York-Boston match up.  Henrik Lundqvist outdueled Tukka Rask for the win at Madison Square Garden. After a second period Jimmy Hayes goal, Lundqvist shut the B’s down and Derick Brassard and Jesper Fast tallied third period goals for the win.  Fast’s goal came with only 1:42 left in the game and overtime looming. It was a big win for the Blueshirts as Boston would have had an identical record as New York if they had won.

10 years ago – 2011: Montreal 2, Rangers 1

Alex Auld played all of three games for the Rangers in 2009-10 as Henrik Lundqvist’s back up. Signed as a free agent by Montreal, he filled in 16 times for Carey Price and on this occasion, he beat his former teammate in a return to Madison Square Garden.

Lundqvist turned back 36 Montreal shots, but goals by Matheiu Darche and future Ranger Benoit Pouliot  beat him while the Blueshirts could only muster a goal by Brandon Dubinsky.

Auld had the Rangers’ number as he never lost to the Blueshirts in seven career games, winning four times with two ties.

It was an important Eastern Conference game with playoff implications.  With the win, the Canadiens pulled within one win of equaling the Rangers’ record of 25-16-3.