What happened on February 26 in the history of the New York Rangers
It took them 64 years, but on this date in 1990, Darren Turcotte netted a hat trick as the Rangers beat Boston and swept the season series against the Bruins for the first time in franchise history.
It was a lopsided 6-1 win for the Rangers as they scored six straight times after Cam Neely led off the scoring with the only goal in the first period. The Rangers scored five second period goals with Turcotte getting two of them. He added the only Ranger goal of the third period to cap off the win.
Unbelievably, the Rangers had not swept a season series against the Bruins since their debut in 1926. The B’s had come into the game as the top team in the NHL with the best defense and they were overwhelmed by the Rangers. To make it even sweeter, the Madison Square Garden fans rained a barrage of promotional gym bags on the ice after Turcotte’s hat trick goal.
Fastest (and only) goal
On this date in 1950, Norm “Odie” Lowe of the Rangers scored the only goal of his NHL career against the Boston Bruins. The center played three games for the Blueshirts that season and what made the goal distinctive was that he scored it 60 seconds into the game to set a franchise record for the fastest goal scored by a Ranger player in his NHL debut.
A milestone for the geezer
On February 26, 2001, Mark Messier scored his 20th goal of the season in a 3-2 loss to Ottawa. He became the fourth NHL player to reach the 20 goal mark over the age of 40.
Hello Texas
On this date in 1994, the Rangers played their first game in the Lone Star State, losing to the Dallas Stars 3-1. The Stars had relocated from Minnesota that season and this was the Blueshirts’ only visit to Dallas.
Texas fans might have thought the Rangers got their name from the Texas Rangers, but the truth is that the team was founded by boxing promoter Tex Rickard and the team was known as Tex’s Rangers.
Today’s birthdays
28 NHL players were born on February 26 with two current Blueshirt sharing the same birthday along with two former Rangers.
Happy birthday to Jacob Trouba who was born on this date in 1994 in Rochester, Michigan. The 28 year old is in his third season in New York and will be a Ranger for a long time having signed a seven year deal in 2019. He came to the Rangers in a trade after six years with the Winnipeg Jets.
Barclay Goodrow was born on this date in 1993 in Toronto, Ontario. He was signed by San Jose in 2014 as an undrafted free agent. After six years with the Sharks he was dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning where he was an important player on two Stanley Cup Championship teams. He was signed by the Rangers in the off-season as a free agent.
Mike Wilson was a defenseman born on this date in 1975 in Brampton, Ontario. He was a first round draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks who played one game for the Rangers in his last season in the NHL in 2002-03. He was one of the players traded to New York by Pittsburgh in 2003 when they sent Alex Kovalev back to the Rangers. He signed with Phoenix after that season.
Bob Cunningham was born on this date in 1941 in Welland, Ontario. He was a center who played four games in two seasons for the Rangers, his only game sin the NHL. The Rangers signed him out of Guelph in the OHA and he played three games at the tail end of the 1960-61 season. He made it back to New York for one game the following season, but never got back to NHL after that, playing the next nine years in the minor leagues.
The numbers
36 games with only two going to extra time on this date in Rangers history.
Games: 36
Regulation wins: 18
Regulation losses: 16
Ties: 2
Points percentage: .528