On April 6 in NYR history: Ron Duguay ties a record

What happened on April 6 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1980, in the final game of the season, Ron Duguay tied a franchise record by scored nine seconds into their game against the Philadelphia Flyers.  The game was at the Spectrum in Philadelphia and it was the first of eight Rangers goals in a 8-3 win.

In scoring in nine seconds he tied the club record set by Fred Cook in 1927 and tied in 1971 by Jean Ratelle.  Since Duguay scored, only one Ranger has equaled the record, Jim Wiemer in 1985.  Cook was the only Ranger to do it Madison Square Garden.

The closest any current Ranger has come was Mika Zibanejad who scored 10 seconds into a 4-3 shootout loss to the Ducks in Anaheim in December 2019.   Sean Avery came the closest at home, scoring in 10 seconds in a February 2008 win over Buffalo at the Garden.

Jagr does it again

On this date in 2008, Jaromir Jagr scored his 25th goal in the last game of the season, the 17th straight season he accomplished that. Jagr is the only NHL player who scored 25 goals or more in his first 17 seasons.

Jagr’s milestone goal came about five minutes into the third period of a shootout win over the Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark.

Jagr’s record may not hold up as Alexander Ovechkin has scored 30 goals or more in his first 15 seasons in the NHL.  He currently has 19 goals in 34 games with 18 games left to play so he should easily pass the 25 goal mark.   That means, barring injury, Ovechkin will tie Jagr next season and go for the record in the 2022-23 season.

Of course, Jagr would have easily extended his record if he had remained in the NHL instead of going to play in the KHL for the next three seasons.

Blowing a lead in a playoff game

On this date in 1967, the Rangers blew a three goal lead in a playoff game or the first time in their history, losing to the Montreal Canadiens 6-4.  The road loss was in the first game of the Semi-Finals as the Rangers were swept by Montreal.

It was the first playoff appearance in five years for the Blueshirts and continued a streak of 17 years without a playoff series win.  That streak would end in 1971 when they beat Toronto in the Stanley Cup Quarter-FInals, their first series win since 1950.

Today’s birthdays

31 NHL players have been born on April 6 including three former Rangers.

Bob Crawford was born on this date in 1959 in Belleville, Ontario.   He was a right winger who played seven seasons in the NHL, including 14 games over two seasons with the Rangers. Acquired from Hartford, he was part of the infamous trade that sent Mike Ridley and Kelly Miller to Washington for Bob Carpenter.

Ville Nieminen was born on this date in 1977 in Tampere, Finland.  A left winger, he played 385 games in seven NHL seasons. The Rangers signed him as a free agent in 2005 and he played 48 games before being swapped to San Jose.

Doug Stevenson was a goalie born on April 6, 1924 in Regina, Saskatchewan.  He was winless in four games with the Rangers in the 1944-45 season when he was 20 years old.   In his rookie season he was loaned to the Chicago Black Hawks when they needed to replace an injured goalie and he remained in Chicago the following season.  He played a total of eight games in the NHL, spending most of his career in the minor leagues.

The numbers

A winning points percentage on this date in the regular season, but a losing record in the playoffs on April 6.

Games: 12
Regulation wins: 4
Regulation losses: 5
Overtime wins: 2
Shootout losses: 1
Points percentage: .542

Playoffs games: 7
Wins: 3
Losses: 4
Winning percentage: 43%