On January 14 in NYR history: 200 wins for the Blueshirts & the coach

The New York Rangers became the fifth team to 200 wins

What happened on January 14 in New York Rangers history

On this date in 1936, the New York Rangers became the fifth team in the NHL to get to the 200 win mark and coach Lester Patrick became the first NHL coach to win 200 games.  Of the “Original Six” teams, the Rangers got tot the 200 win mark before Chicago and Detroit.  The teams who attained the milestone before New York were the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leaf, Boston Bruins and Montreal Maroons.

Though they came into the league at the same time, the Rangers got to the 200 win milestone faster than the Chicago Blackhawks who did it in March 1936 and the Detroit Red Wings who got there in January 1937.

Lester Patrick is the winningest coach in New York Rangers franchise history with 281 victories.  He also leads with 604 games coached.   He is the only Rangers coach to win more than one Stanley Cup, leading them to championships in 1928 and 1933.

Believe it or not, Alain Vigneault is next on the list with 226 wins.  David Quinn is 15th on the list with 69 wins.  A 20 win season for Quinn will get him into 11th place overall, still far behind the record of Lester Patrick, but moving up the chart.

Some firsts

Two expansion teams played their first games at Madison Square Garden on this date.  In 2001, the Minnesota Wild came to the Garden for the first time, dropping a 4-2 decision to the Blueshirts.

In 2002, the Columbus Blue Jackets played their first game at Madison Square Garden, coming away with a 2-2 tie.

Finally, on this date in 1928, defenseman Hap Day scored the first hat trick by a defenseman in Toronto Maple Leafs history in a 6-1 win over the Rangers in Toronto.  All three goals were unassisted.

Today’s birthdays

23 NHL players have been born on January 14 with three of them New York Rangers.   There are two Ranger prospects who were born on this date as well.

Goalie prospect Tyler Wall was born on January 14 in 1998 in Leamington, Ontario.  Drafted in the sixth round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft at #174 overall.  He finished four years at UMass-Lowell before turning pro and he will be playing this year in Hartford.

Eric Ciccolini was a seventh round pick (#205) in 2019 and is currently playing at the University of Michigan.  He was born on this date on 2001 in Vaughan, Ontario.  He is a center and a sophomore for the Wolverines.

Babe Siebert was born on this date in 1904 in Plattsville, Ontario.  Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1964, he was a left winger who also played defense for 14 years in the NHL.  He played only 56 games with the Rangers in 1932-33 and 1933-34  The Rangers traded him to Boston who flipped him to Montreal where he won the Hart Trophy in 1937.  He was a member of the  Stanley Cup winning Rangers team in 1933.

On January 14, 1964, Sergei Nemchinov was born in Moscow, Russia.  A member of the 1994 Stanley Cup winning team, he was one of four Russian players on that team to be the first from that country to have their names engraved on the Cup.

A 12th round pick in 1990, Nemchinov played six years with the Rangers before being traded to Vancouver.  Known as “Sarge,” Nemchinov is part of the exclusive club of players who have toiled for all three metropolitan area teams.

Peter Holland was born on this date in 1991 in Toronto. He played 23 games for the Rangers in the  2017-18 season, acquired in a trade from Montreal.  After a season in the AHL, Holland is now playing in the KHL.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 50 games on January 14, the most of any day in the month and the Blueshirts are just under .500.

Games: 50
Regulation wins: 20
Regulation losses: 23
Ties: 6
Overtime wins: 1
Points percentage:  .480

One year ago

The Rangers had the day off in the midst of their series of games against the Islanders.