On January 10 in NYR history: An explosion of goals

What happened on January 10 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1929 the New York Rangers exploded for nine goals for the first time in franchise history and they did it on the road, beating the Ottawa Senators 9-3.   Not only was it the most goals every scored by the Broadway Blueshirts, it was the highest scoring game so far that season in the entire league.

Fred and Bun Cook each scored twice and Frank Boucher added a pair.  That line finished with six goals and 11 points.

This was the third year for the Rangers in the NHL and the most goals they they had ever scored was seven.  In fact, outside of this game, the Rangers didn’t score more than four goals in any game they played in the 1928-29 season.

Newspaper reports had the Ottawa crowd thrilled with the offensive explosion, even though it came for the visitors.  One reason was that the Senators themselves had scored all of eight goals in their previous 11 games.

It would take four years for the Rangers to top the nine goal mark again.

A big night for the Rocket

On this date in 1951, Montreal Canadiens star Maurice Richard scored his 16th career hat trick and he did at the expense of the Rangers.  With the three goals, he took over third place on the hat trick list for the most in NHL history behind Cy Denneny and Joe Malone.  The three goals gave Richard 274 in his career, moving him past Howie Morenz into second place all time in NHL history.

He scored  his record setting trick in a 3-0 win and he did it in front a hostile Madison Square Garden crowd.

Today’s birthdays

Of the 21 NHL players born on this date, only one played for the Rangers.

In 1905, Doug Brennan was born in Peterborough, Ontario. Brennan was a defenseman who played three season in the NHL, all for the Rangers.  He had nine goals and 16 points in 123 games between 1931 and 1934.   While he is relatively obscure in team history, he did win a Stanley Cup with the Rangers in 1933 playing all eight playoff games that spring.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 33 times on January 10 with a record above .500.

Games: 33
Regulation wins: 16
Regulation losses: 12
Ties: 4
Shootout wins: 1
Points percentage:  .576