October 13 in Rangers history: So many records set

What happened on October 13 in the history of the New York Rangers

October 13 is a record setting date for the New York Rangers as they established marks for winning games, scoring goals and shots on goal.   Here they are:

Five wins in a row

The Rangers set a franchise record this date in 1983 by winning their first five games of the season, defeating the Washington Capitals 4-3 at Madison Square Garden.  Coincidentally, on the same date in 2008, they tied that record by beating the Devils 4-1, also at the Garden.

The record for the longest winning streak to start a season is 10 games, set by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1993 and tied by the Buffalo Sabres in 2006.  The Rangers do own the record for the longest losing streak to start a season when they dropped 15 in a row in 1943.

A power play explosion

On this date in 1993, the Rangers exploded on the power play, scoring six times to set a franchise record.  They had six goals in seven attempts as they beat the Quebec Nordiques 6-4 at Madison Square Garden.   The team had scored five power play goals in a game twice before.

Brian Leetch led the way with two goals while the other goals were scored by Mark Messier, Alexander Karpovtsev, Adam Graves and Mike Gartner.

The NHL record is seven power play goals in a game, shared by the Boston Bruins (1975), Washington Capitals (1987) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (2005).

A record setting shot total

On this date in 2007, Brendan Shanahan did something accomplished by only two New York Rangers before him.  He had seven shots in one period for the second time in his Blueshirts career, joining Jaromir Jagr and Adam Graves as the only Rangers do it twice.

Before we get too excited over the record, it’s worth noting that the NHL didn’t start tracking shots by period until the 1997-98 season so it’s possible that it happened before.

Shanahan and Jagr hold the modern franchise record for shots in one period with eight.

The first win for the King

On this date in 2005, Henrik Lundqvist registered the first win of his NHL career,allowing only one goal in beating the New Jersey Devils 4-1.  It was the second start of his career as he had lost in overtime to the Devils five days earlier.

It was the first of 459 wins for Lundqvist, sixth most in NHL history.

Lundqvist made 20 saves in beating Martin Brodeur who was in net for the Devils.  Lundqvist faced Brodeur 40 times in the regular season with a 27-10-3 record.  They met each other in the playoffs 11 times with Lundqvist winning six of those games.

Today’s birthdays

17 NHL players have been born on October 13 with one potential Blueshirt and three former Rangers sharing the same birthday.

Norm Larson

was a right winger born on this date in 1920 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He played his entire 89 game NHL career in New York, first with the New York and Brooklyn Americans before playing one game with the Rangers in 1946-47.