On December 31 in NYR history: A franchise record for Leetch

On December 31, 1991, Brian Leetch did what he usually did, contributing offensively in a 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets at the Winnipeg Arena. What made it unusual was that it was the 17th straight game that Leetch got a point, setting a franchise record.  No one has come close since.

With the assist, Leetch broke Mike Rogers‘ record streak of 16, set in 1982.  Leetch started his streak on November 23 and scored five goals and 24 assists for 29 points in the 17 game streak.  It’s no small wonder that Leetch won his first Norris Trophy for a season when he scored 22 goals and 102 points.  He remains the only Ranger defenseman to notch over 100 points in a season, a feat accomplished only 14 times in NHL history.

Leetch almost didn’t break Rogers’ record.  He was stuck at 16 straight games as time wound down.  Trailing 4-2 with 40 seconds left in the game, the Jets pulled goalie Bob Essensa and nine seconds later Adam Graves scored an empty net goal on assists from Tony Amonte and guess who?  Brian Leetch.

The streak ended in the first game of 2000, when the Rangers beat the Blackhawks in Chicago, 4-3.  Leetch had one shot on goal, but there was only one assist registered on each of the four Blueshirts’ goals.

While 17 games is impressive, the NHL record belongs to Wayne Gretzy who scored at least a point in an incredible 51 straight games in 1983-84.

An almost unprecedented comeback

If you look at the records for the 2019-20 season, you will see a 7-5 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on New Year’s Eve.  From the score, the Rangers took a beating, but the game was what would be called a “character loss.”   How?  The Blueshirts almost came back from a 6-0 deficit, a feat that would have been the best in NHL history.

The Oilers scored the game’s first six goals, chasing Alexandar Georgiev after 35 minutes of play.  Henrik Lundqvist shut the Oilers down as the Rangers tried to climb an insurmountable mountain.  Chris Kreider got the Rangers started with less than a minute left in the second period.

The third period was all New York as Ryan Strome, Marc Staal, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad all scored, drawing the Rangers within a goal, 6-5.   Only an empty net goal by Kailer Yamamoto could prevent the Rangers from an unlikely comeback.

The game unraveled for the Rangers in the second period when they took seven minor penalties to two for the Oilers.  Edmonton scored two power play goals with James Neal leading the way with a hat trick.

Undefeated in December

Only once in their long history have the New York Rangers not lost a game in month of December.  They accomplished that in 1939, but need to beat the New York Americans on New Year’s Eve to do it.   When the New York Rangers hosted the Americans at Madison Square Garden, they were trying to do something that they had never done before and will probably never do again.  They were trying to go undefeated in the month of December.

It was actually pretty easy as they beat the Americans 5-2.  The Rangers were up 4-0 after two periods on goals by Lynn Patrick, Alf Pike, Clint Smith and Bryan Hextall and after allowing the Americans to score twice in the third period, Clint Smith got his second goal to ice the win.  It gave the Rangers an undefeated month as they won seven and tied three games.

It would have been difficult to predict that record as the Rangers had won only three games in November, going 3-3-4 that month.

The Rangers went 17-8-3 in 1940  to finish in second place, but they would go on to win two playoff series in six games each against the Bruins and Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup.

Just like old times

On New Year’s Eve in 2011, the alumni from the Philadelphia Flyers beat a team of former Blueshirts 3-1, outdoors at Citizens Bank Park in front of 45,808 fans. It was the Mark Messier Rangers vs. the Eric Lindros Flyers and featured an all star squad of alumni.

For Lindros, it was a triumphant return to Philadelphia after being banished in a trade to the Rangers 20 years before after a nasty battle with Flyers’ GM Bobby Clarke.

For the coaches, it was a return to the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals as Pat Quinn coached the Flyers with Mike Keenan behind the bench for the Rangers. The Flyer goals came from John LeClair, Mark Howe and Shjon Podein while the sole Ranger goal came from Glenn Anderson.

The alumni game was a precursor to the main event, the game between the Rangers and Flyers on New Year’s Day.

Today’s birthdays

20 NHL players have been born on New Year’s Eve, but no Ranger player has had the honor.   There is one in the Rangers’ prospect pool who hopes he will be the first.

Jake Elmer was born in 1998 in Calgary, Alberta.  Elmer is a forward who played last year for the  Jacksonville Icemen after being signed in March 2019 as an undrafted free agent .  In 2018-19 he was a point a game player for the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Elmer was recently promoted to the Hartford Wolf Pack after beginning the season with the Rangers’ ECHL farm team in Jacksonville where he scored 10 goals in 23 games.

The numbers

The Rangers have traditionally played on New Year’s Eve with 57 games in their 95 seasons.  The only thing is that in regulation they have won only one more game than they have lost.

Games: 57
Regulation wins: 23
Regulation losses: 22
Ties: 8
Overtime wins: 2
Overtime losses  1
Shootout wins: 1
Points percentage:  .535