On January 6 in NYR history: One of the last milestones for the King

What happened on January 6 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 2018, Henrik Lundqvist won his 424th regular season game.  With the win, he moved into sole possession of eighth place in the all-time wins list, passing Tony Esposito.

It wasn’t easy and he had to do it in a shootout, beating the Arizona Coyotes 2-1 at the Gila River Arena. Lundqvist made 38 saves in the win with Jimmy Vesey scoring the only Ranger goal.  Mika Zibanejad scored the only goal in the shootout.  It was a night full of Blueshirt connections as Lundqvist outplayed former teammate Antti Raanta and the only Coyote goal was scored by Anthony Duclair.

When he won game number 424 at age 35, there was reason to believe that he had an excellent shot at becoming the third goalie in NHL history to reach the 500 win mark to finish behind only Patrick Roy (551 wins) and Martin Brodeur (691 wins).   The sad reality is that Lundqvist would win only six more games that season and 28 games over his last two seasons and it was Marc-Andre Fleury who reached the magic 500 wins total.   Lundqvist did pass legends Jacques Plante, Terry Sawchuk and Curtis Joseph to finish in sixth place with 459 wins.

Two Madison Square Garden firsts, 66 years apart

On this date in 1927, the Montreal Canadiens played the Rangers for the first time at Madison Square Garden.   The game ended in a 1-0 win for the Blueshirts.   What’s remarkable about that inaugural year for the Blueshirts is that both games versus Montreal at MSG that season ended in 1-0 scores with the Rangers winning once and losing in overtime.  Lorne Chabot was the Ranger goalie in both games.

66 years later, on the same date, another Canadian team played their first game at Madison Square Garden. In 1993, the Ottawa Senators made their debut in New York, losing to the Rangers 6-2.   It was Ottawa’s only visit to New York in their inaugural year.  The expansion team won only 10 of 84 games in regulation.

This was the second version of the Ottawa Senators, preceded by one of the founding members of the NHL that existed from 1883 to 1934.  That team played their last game at Madison Square Garden on March 6, 1934, winning 5-4 in overtime.

Death of the team’s founder

On this date in 1929, the man responsible for the New York Rangers’ existence, Tex Rickard, died from complications after an appendectomy.  He was only 59 years old.  Rickard’s death was front page news in the New York Times and there was a vivid description of his death with boxer Jack Dempsey at his bedside.  Dr. William Mayo, founder of the Mayo Clinic, had flown from Rochester, Minnesota to attend to Rickard, but had arrived too late.

Rickard had built the third version of Madison Square Garden in 1925 and had founded the New York Rangers in the 1926-27 season.  The name of the team came from his first name as the team was first known as Tex’s Rangers.

All of the articles (there were several) made no mention of the hockey team, focusing on his role as the head of Madison Square Garden and his career as a boxing promoter.  He has been credited with being the first to promote boxing and make it into the biggest spectator sport of the time.

Today’s birthdays

31 NHL players have been born on January 6.  Only two former Rangers were in that group and one was the only player traded by New York in his rookie season, only to be named rookie of the year.

Carl Voss was  born on January 6, in 1907 in Chelsea, Massachusetts . He played 14 games with Toronto before making it to the NHL with the Rangers in 1932-33.  After ten games, the center had scored two goals and was sold to the Detroit Red Wings.  Big mistake.  In 38 games for Detroit, he had six goals and 15 assists and was named the Calder Trophy winner.  Voss ended up playing for the Red Wings, Rangers, Maple Leafs, Maroons, Senators, Eagles, Americans and Blackhawks, eight teams in eight NHL seasons.  After retiring, he made his name as the referee-in-chief for the NHL, instituting many changes in how hockey games are officiated.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974 in the Builder category.

Right winger Dick Meissner was born  on this date in 1940 in Kindersley, Saskatchewan. After three seasons with the Bruins,  He was traded to the Rangers for Dean Prentice in February 1963.  In a stipulation that would never happen in today’s NHL, although Meissner was traded to the Rangers on February 4, he played the rest of the season in Boston with the understanding that he would play in New York beginning the next season.  He played one season with the Rangers.

The numbers

January 6 is a good day for the Rangers with only 11 regulation losses in 35 games.

Games: 35
Regulation wins: 17
Regulation losses: 11
Ties: 4
Overtime wins: 1
Shootout wins: 1
Shootout losses: 1
Points percentage:  .614