December 14 in NYR history: Welcome to the brawlgame

What happened on December 14 in the history of the New York Rangers

When it comes to the Rangers and penalties the names that come up are obvious.  Nick Fotiu, Troy Mallette, Tie Domi, Joe Kocur and Kris King.  One name that won’t come up is that of Greg Polis, a left winger who played four seasons for the Rangers in the late 1970s.   But guess who holds the franchise record for the most penalty minutes in one period?  Yup, Greg Polis.

Polis set the franchise record for the most penalty minutes in one period with 32 on this date in 1974 in the third period of a 6-2 road loss to the St. Louis Blues.

The game ended with a wild brawl between the two teams resulting in 180 minutes in penalties for both teams. With 186 PIM, they set a record for one period. They also set the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a game with 256 and penalties with 47.   Watch the whole video below…it’s worth it.

Those league records have since been shattered and the Rangers set their franchise record of 292 minutes in a 1988 game with the Penguins.  But, Polis is still in the record books.

The brawl began with Polis and Blues forward Claude Larose swinging their sticks at each other. It became a pitched battle with referees handing out four game misconducts, eight 10-minutes misconducts along with 10 fighting majors as well as three minor penalties.

Here are the Rangers who didn’t finish the game: Polis, Bert Wilson, Jerry Butler, Brad Park and Eddie Giacomin.  For the Blues it was Larose, Rick Wilson, Floyd Thomson, Bob Gassoff and Ace Bailey.  That doesn’t include Blues defenseman Larry Sacharuk who was tossed from the game in the second period.

Yes, both goalies left their creases and engaged in fisticuffs. Giacomin left the crease and got a third man in penalty and game misconduct.  Blues goalie John Davidson also left the crease when he saw Giacomin had gotten involved.  It was the first time a Rangers goalie had been ejected from a game.

For his record total, Polis was given a game misconduct, a 10-minute misconduct, two five-minute fighting majors and a minor penalty for roughing.

Those 32 minutes is not close to the current NHL record of 67 minutes, set by Randy Holt of the Los Angeles Kings in 1979.   in 1974, the record belonged to Reg Fleming of the Sabres at 39 minutes.  Two Rangers have come close with 31 minutes of penalty time in one period.  Dave Karpa had that total in 2001 and Tomas Kloucek had 31 minutes in 2002.

Twin on twin

On this date in 2006, twins Henrik and Joel Lundqvist played against each other for the first time in the NHL.  It was a better game for Henrik as the Rangers won 5-2 against the Stars in Dallas.   Henrik was named the first star of the game based on his 43 save performance.

The Rangers were shorthanded 11 times in this game including five times in the first period. It was a nasty game with one fight and six minor penalties for slashing, roughing or boarding.

Joel, a center,  didn’t play much, only 5:44 and didn’t see any power play time. He had no shots on goal against his brother.  The twins faced each other two more times in the NHL with Dallas winning both other games, but Joel never got a shot on goal against Henrik.

This was the third time that twins had played in a game involving the Rangers. Peter Sundstrom was a Ranger and his brother Patrik played against him when he was with Vancouver in the early 1980s.

The only pair of twins that played as teammates for the Blueshirts were Peter and Chris Ferraro in 1995-96.  They were the second pair to do it in the NHL, preceded only by Rich and Ron Sutter who played together for the Flyers in 1983.   The most productive twins were the Sedins who starred for years in Vancouver.

As for the Lundqvists, they have played together for Frölunda in the SHL and for Team Sweden in international competition.

A first for who?

On this date in 1930, the Detroit Falcons played their first game at Madison Square Garden.  The Rangers won 3-0 behind the goaltending of John Ross Roach.

Founded in 1926 as the Detroit Cougars, they had changed their name to the Falcons for the 1930-31 season.  As the Cougars, the team had made the playoffs once in four years and had yet to win a playoff game so they felt a new name might bring new luck.  In their second year with the new name they actually made the playoffs, but the team was then purchased by James Norris (of Norris Trophy fame) and he immediately renamed them the Red Wings.

Today’s birthdays

17 NHL players have been born on December 14 including two former Rangers and one Hall of Famer in the Builder category.

William Jennings was born on this date in New York City in 1920.  A lawyer by trade, he first served as counsel for Madison Square Garden and was eventually named President of the Rangers in 1962.   He served in that role until his death in 1981 at age 60.   He was influential in the growth of the sport and was a driving force  behind  NHL expansion. He created the Lester Patrick Award, an honor he won himself in 1971.  In 1982, the NHL created the William Jennings Trophy, awarded to the goaltenders on the team that allows the fewest goals.  That allowed the Vezina Trophy to go to the best goalie as voted by NHL general managers.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a builder in 1975.

Joe Cooper was born on this date in 1914 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  A defenseman, he played 10 seasons in the NHL.  Interestingly, he started his career with two seasons in New York in 1936, then played seven seasons in Chicago before returning to the Rangers for his last NHL season in 1946-47.

Peter Sundstrom was a left winger, born on this date in 1961 in Skelleftea, Sweden.  Drafted by the Rangers in 1981 he played for them for three seasons before being swapped to the Capitals for a draft pick.  As noted above, he is one of three Rangers to play in the same game with his twin brother. After six seasons in the NHL he returned to Sweden where he played until 1995.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 39 games on December 14 in their history and they are sitting at .500 on the day getting exactly half the points that they could have earned.

Games: 39
Regulation wins: 14
Regulation losses: 14
Ties: 8
Overtime losses: 2
Shootout losses: 1
Points percentage: .500