December 16 in NYR history: First time for a sibling rivalry

What happened on December 16 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1934 something happened at Madison Square Garden that had never happened before in NHL history.  With Lester Patrick was running the bench for the New York Rangers and his brother Frank was the coach of the Boston Bruins, it was the first time that brothers opposed each other as head coaches.   Lester’s Rangers beat Frank’s Bruins 2-1.

Lester narrowly edged out Frank in the 14 games that they opposed each other. The brothers would meet five more times in the 1934-35 season with the Rangers going 1-3-2.  The next season they would play eight times with Lester prevailing 6-2.  Lester won the sibling rivalry with a 7-5-2 record.

Lester Patrick played on one game in the NHL and one in the playoffs and was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1947 after 13 years as Rangers coach.  Frank Patrick was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a builder in 1950,  becoming the first set of brothers to make it into the Hall of Fame.

Two other pairs of brothers have coached against each other in the NHL  Bryan Murray (Detroit)  and Terry Murray (Washington) faced each other in the 1990-91 season.

In the 2011-12 season, Darryl Sutter (Los Angeles) faced his brother Brent Sutter (Calgary).

The Patricks are known as hockey royalty and Lynn, Muzz and Craig Patrick all became head coaches of the Rangers.

A big night on the power play

On December 16, 1962, Rangers forward Andy Hebenton scored three power play goals in one game,  a 5-2 win over Detroit at Madison Square Garden.  He fell one goal short of the NHL and franchise record of four, set by Camille Henry in 1954 and since, equaled by seven other NH players.

The Rangers’ Ed Slowinski had scored three in a game in 1952, tying the NHL record at that time so Hebenton was the third Ranger to achieve the milestone. Other Rangers to score three power play goals in a game include Mark Messier, Mike Gartner, Matt Puempel and most recently, Mika Zibanejad, last season against the Flyers.

Two notable debuts and a milestone achieved

On this date in 1950 two hockey immortals, Jean Beliveau and Bernie Geoffrion, both only 19, made their debuts against the New York Rangers.  They both played in a 1-1 tie at the Montreal Forum with Geoffrion scoring the only goal for the Habs. Both players didn’t stick with the NHL team, though Geoffrion came up for good in February.  Beliveau didn’t become an NHL fixture until the 1953-54 season.

In 1964 Gordie Howe of the Red Wings  became the first player in NHL history to reach the 1,300 point mark in a 7-3 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Howe had two goals and two assists to reach the milestone in what was the 1,000th win for the Detroit Red Wings franchise.

Do you know the way from San Jose?

In 1991 on December 16, the Rangers played the  San Jose Sharks for the first time ever as the Sharks found their way to Madison Square Garden for the first time. The expansion team lost 15 of their first 16 games and came to New York with a record of 7-22-4 and lost in overtime 4-3.

The Rangers won the next meeting in San Jose and the Sharks finished last in the Smythe Division, winning on 17 out of 80 games.  The Sharks have only played 21 games at MSG  since 1991 with a 5-13-3 record.

Today’s birthdays

11 NHL players have been born on December 16 with only one a former Ranger.

Randy Legge was a defenseman, born on this date in 1945 in Newmarket, Ontario.  He played in 12 games for the Rangers in 1972, but after spending the next season with Providence in the AHL, he signed with the WHA and played three years in the upstart league. He played for memorable WHA teams like the Michigan Stags,  Baltimore Blades, Cleveland Crusaders, San Diego Mariners and the Winnipeg Jets.

The numbers

December 16 is not a good day for the Rangers as they have only 11 regulation wins in 39 games.  They have won in overtime four times and once in a shootout.

Games: 39
Regulation wins: 11
Regulation losses: 19
Ties: 3
Overtime wins: 4
Shootout wins: 1
Overtime losses: 1
Points percentage: .461