May 1 in NYR History: Blueshirts finally win a game 7

What happened on May 1 in the history of the New York Rangers

It took a long time, but the New York Rangers finally won a seven game Stanley Cup Playoffs series, beating the Devils 8-4 at Madison Square Garden in the Patrick Division Semi-Finals.  Not only was it the their first Game Seven win in five tries, it was the first Game Seven ever played at the Garden.

The series had been seesawing between the two teams with the Rangers winning games every other game starting with Game One.  This game was never in doubt with the Rangers jumping out to a 6-1 lead by 13:34 minutes of the second period.  The Devils scored three goals to make it a 6-4 game , but the Rangers added a power play goal by Darren Turcotte and an empty net goal by Mark Messier to seal the win.  It was Chris Terreri versus John Vanbiesbrouck in goal  as the Martin Brodeur-Mike Richter had yet to begin.

The reason that it was the first Game Seven at the Garden was that in previous years, even with a better record, the Circus had taken over the Garden and the Rangers were forced to play on the road.

The Rangers had lost to the Bruins in 1939 in the first seven-game Final series in NHL history. They lost in the 1950 Final when they had to play the last four games in Detroit.  They dropped two seven-game series in the 1970s, to Chicago in 1971 and to Philadelphia in 1974.

A Calder Trophy for Gump

In 1953 on this date, the NHL awarded the Calder Trophy as best rookie to Rangers netminder Gump Worsley.  He did it even though the Rangers were absolutely awful, finishing in last place with a record of 17-37-16.

The 23-year-old Worsley’s record was 13-29-8 with a goals against average of 3.02 and two shutouts.  He was the fifth Ranger to win the Calder Trophy and the only Ranger goalie to get the honor.  He was the sixth goalie to be recognized as best rookie.

He finished first in the Calder voting ahead of Gord Hannigan, a center with the Toronto Maple Leafs who scored 17 goals and 35 points.  Toronto defenseman Leo Boivin finished third.  Both Worsley and Boivin a members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Today’s birthdays

26 NHL players have been born on May day with two of them former Rangers.

Pat Conacher was born on this date in 1959 in  Edmonton, Alberta.  A left winger, he was picked by the Rangers in the fourth round of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft.    Contrary to popular belief he is not related to NHL greats Lionel, Roy or Charlie Conacher.  His career was waylaid by a broken ankle that sidelined him the entire 1980-81 season. He played 22 games in New York before signing with Edmonton as a free agent in 1983.  He is best known as the first player to suit up for all three metropolitan area team as he also played for the Islanders and Devils.

Jim Lorentz was a forward born on this date in 1947 in Waterloo, Ontario.  After winning a Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 1970, he was a Ranger for five games in 1971-72 before being traded to Buffalo where he was a stalwart for the Sabres for seven years.

The numbers

The Rangers have never played a regular season game on May 1 until 2021.  In the playoffs, they have been very successful, winning five of six.

Playoffs games: 6
Wins: 5
Losses:1
Winning percentage: 83%