September 26 in NYR history: Gilbert scores as Canada ties the Summit Series

What happened on September 26 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1972, Canada and the Soviet Union played the seventh game of the Summit Series with Canada winning 4-3 to tie the series at 3-3-1.   New York Rangers on the team made key contributions as Brad Park assisted on the opening goal by Phil Esposito and Rod Gilbert scored his only goal of the tournament, assisted by Jean Ratelle,  to put Canada ahead in the third period.

The Soviet’s most dynamic player, Valeri Kharlamov, missed the game after Bobby Clarke slashed him and fractured his ankle.  It was a seesaw game with each team exchanging goals and Canada won on a fabulous effort by Paul Henderson with only 2:06 left in the game.

It was another ugly game with several scuffles and some dubious refereeing.  Dennis Hull was hauled down on a break with no penalty, but Boris Mikhailov took a dive that resulted in a Gilbert hooking call.

It got out of control in the third period when Mikhailov and Gary Bergman grappled behind the Canadian net.  A melee broke out and Mikhailov actually kicked Bergman twice, punching a hole in his shinpad.   The Canadians were irate as both players were given five minute majors for  roughing with no extra penalty for the kick, the ultimate example of unsportsmanlike conduct.

Amazingly, the Canadians had rebounded from a 1-3-1 deficit to tie the series, winning two straight games in Moscow.  It set up a showdown in game eight two days later.

Today’s birthdays

23 NHL players have been born on September 36 with two of them former New York Rangers.

John Scott was born on this date in 1982 in Edmonton Alberta.  He was a left winger who played parts of eight seasons in the NHL for seven teams including the Rangers in 2011-12.  The Rangers picked him up at the trade deadline in 2012 and he played six games for New York.  Scott is best known for being voted captain of the Pacific Division team at the All-Star game in 2016 despite he scored only one point in 11 games for Arizona.  The NHL tried to get him to refuse the honor, but he ended up playing and scored two goals and named the MVP of the game.

Jack Stoddard  was born on this date in 1926.  He was a right winger who played two seasons in the NHL for the Rangers.  He had a long career as a big scorer in the AHL, but only made it to the NHL in 1951 when he was 25 years old.  He was the leading scorer in the AHL when he was promoted.  Stoddard makes the trivia books for two reasons.  In his two seasons in the NHL he was the tallest player in the league at 6’3″ and  he was the first New York Ranger player to wear uniform number 13.