On December 21 in NYR history: 23 years, 3 coaches

What happened on December 21 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1948, the New York Rangers named Lynn Patrick as the third coach in franchise history.    When he took the position, being head coach of the Rangers was the very definition of job security  with coaching changes were few and far between.  In fact, before Lynn Patrick, the Rangers had had only two head coaches in their first 22 years in the NHL.

Lester Patrick was the first coach in team history and was at the helm for 13 years, steering the team to two Stanley Cups.  In 1939 Frank Boucher took over and he was the head coach for nine years, winning the Cup in his first year.  When Lynn succeeded Boucher,  It was all in the family as he was the son of the Blueshirts’ first coach.

Unfortunately, the longevity of coaching the Rangers ended with Lynn Patrick as he lasted only two seasons.   The team had a record of 40-51-16 in those two seasons.  Although they finished in fourth place and were three games under .500 in the 1949-50 season, the team made an unexpected run to the Stanley Cup Finals, losing in seven games to the Detroit Red Wings.

That the Blueshirts extended the Red Wings to seven games is remarkable considering that five of the seven games were played in Detroit (including the last four) and two of the Rangers home games were played in Toronto, because the circus had taken over Madison Square Garden.

Lynn Patrick shocked the Rangers by resigning in May, 1950, citing personal reasons to take a coaching position with the Victoria Cougars of the Pacific Coast League.  That job didn’t last long as he surfaced as the coach of the Boston Bruins the next season.

Lynn Patrick played for the Rangers for 10 years, scoring 145 goals in 455 games.  He was the brother of future Rangers coach Muzz Patrick and the father of future coach and GM, Craig Patrick.

Three coaches in 24 seasons is pretty unusual.  Consider this, in the last 24 seasons, the Rangers have had 11 head coaches.  The longest tenure for a Rangers coach since Frank Boucher has been Alain Vigneault who lasted five full seasons.

The Pirates?

In 1926 on this date, the Rangers hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates for the first time at Madison Square Garden, winning 1-0.   The Pirates joined the NHL in 1925,  a year before the Rangers.  They were named for the baseball team, but  lasted only five years in the league before they moved to Philadelphia in 1930-31 as the Quakers.  They folded for good after that season.

You want some Pirates trivia?  Their coach, Odie Cleghorn, was the first to change players on the fly.  The Pirates also teamed up with the New York  American to set a record for most shots in a game. Pittsburgh had 68 shots and New York had 73 shots for a total of 141 in  3-1 New York win. That’s an unofficial record as the NHL didn’t begin tracking shots on goal until the 1959-1960 season.  The official record belongs to the Colorado Rockies and Toronto Maple Leafs who combined for 104 shots in 1976.

Today’s birthdays

14 NHL players have been born on December 21 with two who played for the Blueshirts.

Joe Kocur was born on this date in 1964 in Calgary, Alberta.  Kocur, a right winger, was one of the toughest Rangers to ever wear the uniform. He came to New York after seven years with Detroit and played for the Rangers for five years and was a member of the 1994 Stanley Cup team.  A feared pugilist, Kocur never led the Rangers in penalty minutes after topping 200 minutes every season with Detroit.

Goalie Joe Schaefer was born on this date in 1924 on Long Island, New York.  He played two games in the NHL, both for the Rangers. He appeared in one game in each of the 1959-60 and 1960-61 seasons. He lost both games and didn’t play the full 60 minutes in either game.  He was not the first Ranger to be born in New York State, as he was preceded by defenseman Frank Peters who played 43 games for the Blueshirts in 1930-31.  He was born in  Rouses Point, NY, a small town on Lake Champlain.  The first NHL player born in New York State was Billy Burch, born in Yonkers in 1900.  He made his debut in 1922 and played for four team including the New York Americans, but not the Rangers.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 35 games on December 21 in their history with some success, losing only 10 times in regulation.

Games: 35
Regulation wins: 15
Regulation losses: 10
Ties: 5
Overtime wins: 2
Overtime losses: 2
Shootout losses: 1
Points percentage: .600