February 13 in NYR history: Happy birthday Kaapo & goodbye to Oakland & the Maroons

What happened on February 13 in the history of the New York Rangers

February 13 is a quiet day in New York Rangers history. No momentous achievements and no records set. On this date, the team said good-bye to one team, the Montreal Maroons and good-bye to the Oakland Seals.

On this date in 1938 the Rangers played the Montreal Maroons for the last time, winning 4-1 at Madison Square Garden.  The game came one night after the Rangers played the Maroons for the last time in Montreal, also winning 5-3.

The Maroons were in the NHL from 1924 to 1938 when financial issues caused the team to suspend operations.  They won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1926 and 1935.

The Rangers played 62 games against the Maroons with a record of 28-21-13.

In 1970 the Rangers played their last game against the Oakland Seals, the most renamed team in NHL history.  The team had joined the league in the 1967 as the California Seals.  That name lasted one year before the team was renamed the Oakland Seals.

The were known as the Oakland Seals for three years before they were bought by Charlie Finley and renamed the Bay Area Seals. That name lasted all of two games before he changed the name to the California Golden Seals.  That lasted until 1976 when the franchise moved to Cleveland as the Barons and ultimately folded in 1978.

Despite all of the names, the team played all of their home games at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena, a location that never posted great attendance numbers.

In the 11 seasons the Seals-Golden Seals-Barons existed in the NHL, the Rangers played them 54 times and had a 38-10-6 record.   That points percentage of .759% is the second best for the team against any franchise, only exceeded by a .850% against the Pittsburgh Pirates who they played 30 times in the late 1920s.

Today’s birthdays

23 NHL players have been born on February 13 including one current player with a bright future.

On this date in 2001, Kaapo Kakko was born in Turku, Finland.  The second overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, he made his debut as an 18 year old in 2019-20.  Kakko joined Brad Park as the only two second overall picks in franchise history.

Patsy Callighen was born on this date in 1906 in Toronto, Ontario.  He played only one season in the NHL, but it was a good one.  He was a member of the 1927-28 Stanley Cup championship team and his name is inscribed on the Cup after he played all nine playoff games for the team.

The defenseman spent most of his career nine year pro hockey career in the minor leagues, except for that brief and fruitful tenure with the Rangers.  Oh yes, his name was Francis.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 31 games on February 13 with a sub-.500 record.  On an unusual note, it’s one of the few days that they have never had a tie and with the current overtime rules, will never have a game end that way.

Games: 31
Regulation wins: 12
Regulation losses: 17
Shootout wins: 1
Shootout losses: 1
Points percentage: .456

Last year

Rangers 4, Wild 3 (shootout)

The Rangers won their third in a row, beating the Minnesota Wild in a shootout.  The Rangers came back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game in the third period on goals from Pavel Buchnevich and Mika Zibanejad.  Zibanejad’s goal came with only 1:06 left in the game. They won the shootout when Artemi Panarin and Zibanejad scored while Ryan Donato and Zach Parise missed.

The win improved the team’s record to 29-23-4 and 62 points, still nine points out of a playoff wild card spot, but the winning streak was giving the team hope for a postseason berth.