On April 22 in NYR history: The last playoff series win

What happened on April 22 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 2017, the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 at Madison Square Garden, winning their Eastern Conference First Round series four games to two.  It was the last playoff series the Rangers won before embarking on a rebuild that saw them gut the team, trading away established players for draft picks and prospects.

The Rangers were led by Mats Zuccarello’s two second period goals and Henrik Lundqvist’s 22 saves. Of the seven Rangers on the scoresheet, the only player still with the team is Mika Zibanejad with Zuccarello, Ryan McDonagh, J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes, Derek Stepan all traded ad Dan Girardi bought out.

The Rangers would go on to play the Ottawa Senators in the next round, falling to them in six games.

The third general manager

On this date in 1955, Frank Boucher resigned as general manager of the New York Rangers and was replaced by Muzz Patrick.  Patrick became only the third GM in franchise history as Boucher had replaced the original GM, Lester Patrick in1946.

In his ten years as GM, Boucher’s Rangers had made the Stanley Cup Finals once, in 1950 while making the playoffs only twice.

Islanders domination

In 1983 on April22,  the New York Islanders beat the Rangers 5-2 at Madison Square Garden in Game Six of the Patrick Division Finals to win the series four games to two.  It was the Islanders 14th straight playoff series win en route to  a record 19 straight series wins.

It was the third of four straight years that the Rangers were defeated in the playoffs by their arch rivals from Long Island.

Today’s birthdays

There have been 26 NHL players born on April 22.  Six of them played for the Rangers.

Dan CloutierBert ConnollyDoug JarrettPhil LatrelleEnver LisinGlen Sonmor

The numbers

Playoffs games: 12
Wins: 5
Losses: 5
Overtime wins: 2
Winning percentage: