On May 18 in NYR history: Some final Gretzky playoff magic

What happened on May 18 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1997, the New York Rangers got a glimpse of Wayne Gretzky‘s glorious goal scoring ability when he scored his 10th and final playoff hat trick.  It came in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers at the CoreStates Center.

The 5-4 win evened the series at a game apiece, but it was the the last win of the season for the Rangers and the last playoff win of Gretzky’s career.  He scored two power play goals in the first period to give the Blueshirts a 3-1 lead and added his third goal in the second period after the Flyers had knotted the score.

On of those Flyers goals was scored by Paul Coffey, Gretzky’s former teammate in Edmonton.  The Flyers were the fifth different team that Coffey had scored for in the playoffs, tying the record that had been held by Larry Murphy.

Today’s birthdays

32 NHL players have been born on May 18 including five former Rangers and two who were traded to the Blueshirts in the same deal.

Jari Kurri was born on this date in 1960 in Helsinki, Finland.  One of he great goal scorers in NHL history and a Hall of Famer, he was involved in one of the worst trades in Rangers history.  At the trade deadline in 1996, in an effort to rekindle the Oilers Stanley Cup magic, he was dealt along with Marty McSorley and Shane Churla by the Kings to New York for Mattias Norstrom, Ian Laperriere, Ray Ferraro and Nathan LaFayette.  Kurri played 14 regular season games and 11 playoff games before departing as a free agent.  Norstrom played 11 seasons as a fixture on the Kings blueline while the others in the deal also contributed.

Marty McSorley was a defenseman and winger who was born on May 18, 1963 in Hamilton, Ontario.  He was primarily known for his physical play and he was Gretzky’s “bodyguard” in his years in Edmonton.   He was part of that infamous Jari Kurri trade as the two birthday boys were dealt to New York for a reunion with the Great One.   He played all of nine games in New York along with four playoff games that spring before he was traded to San Jose.

Jay Wells was born on this date in 1959 in Paris, Ontario  The defenseman was a regular on the blue line for the Rangers in 1994  and played in 23 playoff games in the team’s run to the Stanley Cup.   Wells was a solid stay-at-home defenseman who played 18 seasons in the NHL, the first nine with the Los Angeles Kings. The Rangers got him in 1992 from Buffalo in a trade for Randy Moller.  After three seasons with the Rangers he was traded to St. Louis for Doug Lidster.

Manny Malhotra was born on this date in 1980 in Mississauga, Ontario. Selected as the seventh overall pick in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, Malhotra could never live up to the hype of being a top pick and was rushed to the NHL, playing his first season as an 18 year old.  After three seasons in New York, he fell out of favor with coach John Muckler and was traded to Dallas.  While he never became a big NHL scorer, Malhotra played 16 seasons in the NHL and was known as a solid defensive center and one of the best faceoff specialists in the league.

Darren Van Impe was a defenseman, born on this date in 1973 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  He played nine seasons in the NHL for six teams including 17 games with the Rangers in the 2001-02 season.

The numbers

Playoff games: 2
Wins: 1
Losses: 1
Winning percentage: 50%