On January 25 in NYR history: 11 goals at home for the first time

What happened on January 25 in the history of the New York Rangers

It took the New York Rangers 15 years, but they finally scored 11 goals in a game as the home team at Madison Square Garden, beating the Detroit Red Wings, 11-2.   It happened on this date in 1942 and the team set a slew of offensive marks in the game.

Some will argue that the record of 11 goals at home had already been set.  On March 16, 1939 the Rangers had beaten the New York Americans 11-5, at Madison Square Garden, but they were the road team in that game.  So, in a purely technical way, the Rangers did score 11 goals for the first time at their home arena on this date in 1942.

The 11 goals stood as the franchise record and was a number they didn’t hit again until they scored 12 goals against the California Golden Seals in 1971, again at MSG.

They tied one record this night cannot be disputed. They matched their franchise high for goal differential of nine. They had set the record in 1940, beating Montreal 9-0 at the Garden. For the Red Wings, this was the worst loss in their franchise history.

The Rangers did set a record for the fastest three goals in franchise history, notching three goals in 48 seconds.  That shattered their previous record of three goals in 60 seconds, set in 1933 and was the seventh fastest in NHL history, at the time.

Every single Ranger player registered a goal or an assist in the game, but the offensive star was rookie Grant Warwick who had a hat trick and four points.  He became the youngest Ranger player to get four points in a game at 20 years, 106 days.  That record was later broken by Gene Carr, Don Murdoch and is currently held by Alex Kovalev.

Warwick set the record (since broken) as the youngest player in franchise history to get a hat trick. He won the Calder Trophy that season.

Harry Howell night

While Ranger defenseman Harry Howell had his number three retired on February 22, 2009, he was honored by the team once before that.  On January 25, 1967 the team held a “Harry Howell Night” and he was given numerous gifts including a new Mercury Cougar, engraved watches, vacation trips, a barbecue and a year’s supply of cheese.  He became the first Ranger to have a night in his honor.

By that night he had been a Ranger for 15 seasons and the Saturday before he was honored, he played in his 1,000th game.  The Hamilton, Ontario native ended up playing  1,160 games in New York, a franchise record that may never be broken. Brian Leetch was 31 games short when he was traded to Toronto.

The greatest tragedy for Howell is that his Rangers career spanned a time when they were a bad team. In 17 years, his teams made the playoffs only seven time and were ousted in the first round every time.

That season Howell won his only Norris Trophy and he is known as the last man to win the Trophy before Bobby Orr who won it the next eight seasons.  Howell was also the last defensive defenseman to win the Trophy, ever.

Good-bye Ottawa for 58 years

The Rangers played their last game in Ottawa against the first version of the Ottawa Senators on this date in 1934.  The Senators moved to St. Louis in the 1934-35 season. They had been one of the founding teams of the NHL and had won 11 Stanley Cups.  Due to financial difficulties, the team relocated to St. Louis where they played one season before folding.

The Rangers won their last game in Ottawa 6-3.  They would not play another game in Ottawa until the took on the expansion Senators in 1992.

Today’s birthdays

27 NHL players were born on January 25 including two New York Rangers. One was a Stanley Cup winner who spoke his own language.

Esa Tikkanen was born on this date in 1965 in Helsinki, Finland.  He was one of the more unusual players in the NHL and was well known for his version of English, called Tik-speak.   He won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers before coming to New York in 1993 in a trade for Doug Weight.

Tikkanen had two stints with the Rangers, once from 1993 to 1994 and again in1996-97.  He was built for the playoffs.  In 144 regular season games for the Rangers the left winger scored 25 goals  while he scored 13 goals in 38 playoffs games for New York.  Tikkanen retired in 2001 after 14 NHL seasons for seven different teams.

Gordie Dwyer was born on this date in 1978 in Dalhousie, New Brunswick.  He was a left winger who spent most of his career with Tampa.  He was traded to the Rangers where he played 17 games in the 2002-03 season.  He was claimed on waivers by the Montreal Canadiens, ending his Rangers career.  He had only one assist in those 17 games.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 34 games on January 25, winning 20 making this day one of the more successful ones for the franchise.

Games: 34
Regulation wins:  20
Regulation losses: 13
Ties: 1
Points percentage: .603