On March 12 in NYR history: Don Maloney scores twice in 8 seconds

What happened on March 12 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1987, Don Maloney scored two goals in only eight seconds.  He did it in the third period of a 6-1 win over the Flyers at the Spectrum on a night that everything went right for the Rangers.  Ex-Flyer Bob Froese won the game for the Blueshirts, Marcel Dionne scored his first goal as a Ranger, and Maloney tied Pierry Jarry’s mark for the fastest two goals by one player in club history.

It’s a record that still stands. The closest a current Ranger has come is two goals in 47 seconds for Artemi Panarin against San Jose in December 2019.  The NHL record is four seconds, set by Nels Stewart of the Montreal Maroons in 1931 and tied by Deron Quint of the Winnipeg Jets in 1995.

Season suspended

On March 12, 2000, the hockey world was rocked as the NHL announced that they were suspending the regular season due to COVID-19.  The Rangers were stuck in Denver instead of flying to Arizona as they awaited instructions from the NHL on how to proceed.

A six point game

On this date in 1933, Bill Cook set a team road record with six points against the New York Americans in an 8-2 win at Madison Square Garden. He tied Frank Boucher’s franchise record of six points from 1930, The six points in one game was a club record until Steve Vickers scored seven points in one game in 1976.

His five points in the third period still stands as the Rangers record for most points in one period, one off the NHL record. Cook’s road record gets an asterisk as he scored the six points at the Garden, but the Rangers were the road team in the game against the Americans who shared the arena.

A blocked shots record

On this date in 2011 Dan Girardi set a club record with nine blocked shots in one game in a 3-2 shootout win over the  Sharks in San Jose.   Girardi broke his own team record four years later, blocking ten shots in a 3-2 win in Winnipeg.

Ten goals

On this date in 1952, the Rangers scored ten goals in one game for the first time in franchise history in a 10-2 win over the Chicago Black Hawks at Madison Square Garden.  It was the third time the team had scored in double figures, but they had scored 11 goals in those games.  This was the first game with a 10 goal total for the Blueshirts.

Today’s birthdays

24 NHL players have been born on March 12 including two former Rangers, one with an unusual name.

Bronco Horvath was born on this date in 1930 in Port Colborne, Ontario.  Of Hungarian descent, he was named Bronco Joseph and he played parts of three seasons with the Rangers.  The center was a legend in Boston best known for missing the Art Ross Trophy by one point in 1960.  In the final game of the season he was hit in the jaw by a puck and went to the hospital for x-rays. When they were negative he raced back to Boston Garden when he heard that Bobby Hull had passed him in the scoring race.  He was unable to get the point he needed to tie for the title.  He played for five of the Original Six teams in his career, missing only the Detroit Red Wings.

Danny Lewicki was a left winger born on this date in 1931 in Fort William, Ontario.  He played for the Rangers for four years from 1954 to 1958, making the Second All-Star team in his first season when he scored 29 goals.  He was a Stanley Cup champion in 1951 with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The numbers

45 games on March 12 and the same number of wins and losses.

Games: 45
Regulation wins: 19
Regulation losses: 19
Ties: 3
Overtime wins:1
Overtime losses: 2
Shootout wins: 1
Points percentage: .522