Blue Line Station
Fansided

On April 24 in NYR history: Sweeping the Islanders

By Steve Paulus

28 JAN 1994: NEW YORK RANGERS RIGHT WING ALEXEI KOVALEV IN ACTION DURING A GAME AGAINST MIGHTY DUCKS AT THE POND IN ANAHEIM. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Cratty/ALLSPORT
28 JAN 1994: NEW YORK RANGERS RIGHT WING ALEXEI KOVALEV IN ACTION DURING A GAME AGAINST MIGHTY DUCKS AT THE POND IN ANAHEIM. Mandatory Credit: Glenn Cratty/ALLSPORT /
facebooktwitterreddit

What happened on April 24 in the history of the New York Rangers

There is nothing as sweet as a Stanley Cup Playoffs series sweep and nothing is sweeter than sweeping the New York islanders.  On this date in 1994, the Rangers finished a four game sweep of the Isles, the first and only Rangers sweep in the history of the rivalry.  The fact that this sweep came en route to their first Stanley Cup championship since 1940 made it even better.

The Rangers faced the Islanders in the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals, the first round of the playoffs that spring.  The Rangers thoroughly dismantled the Isles in the four games, winning the first two games by identical 6-0 scores, the third game 5-1 and on April 24, by a 5-2 score.  They outscored them in the four games 22-3.   As we said, it was sweet.

This wasn’t the first time the Rangers beat the Islanders in the playoffs.  In 1979, they upset the Isles en route to a Final loss to the Canadiens.  That was followed by four straight years of being eliminated by the Islanders from 1981 to 1884.

They finally beat the Islanders in 1990 in five games and followed that with this win.  1994 was the last time the two teams have meet in the postseason.

Today’s birthdays

28 NHL players were born on April 24, two have played for the Rangers with one player becoming coach.

Phil Watson was born on this date in 1914 in Montreal, Quebec.  Watson played his entire 13 year career with the Rangers except for a brief 44 game stint in Montreal. .A right wing/center, Watson played on the 1940 Stanley Cup championship team and also won a Cup when he was loaned to the Canadiens in 1944.  After he retired in 1948 he became coach of the Rangers from 1955 to 1960.

Jeff Jackson was born on this date in 1965 in Dresden, Ontario.  He played only nine games in New York after coming from Toronto in a trade for Mark Osborne.  He was subsequently traded to Quebec for David Shaw and John Ogrodnick.  The left winger scored five goals in those nine games in 1987.

The numbers

Playoffs games: 7
Wins: 3
Losses: 3
Overtime wins: 1
Winning percentage: 57%

Regular season games: 1
Regulation wins: 1
Regulation losses: 0
Points percentage: 1.000

Home/History