On March 30 in NYR history: Ratelle’s 100 point season (for Boston)

What happened on March 30 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1976, Jean Ratelle of the Boston Bruins reached the 100 point mark for the second and last time in his career.  What made it unusual was that he started the season as a New York Ranger and he became the first player in NHL history to total 100 points in one season for two different teams.

On November 7, 1975, Ratelle and Brad Park had been traded to Boston by the Rangers in exchange for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais.  Ratelle had scored 15 points in 13 games for New York and with the Bruins he totaled 90 points in 67 games.

Esposito finished the season with 83 points, scoring 29 goals and 67 points for the Rangers in 62 games.  It was the first time in six years that he didn’t total at least 127 points.  In fact, Esposito had averaged 137 points per season for the previous five years.  Of course, once he got to New York he never had more than 81 in a full season.   And yes, we know that Joe Zanussi was part of the deal going to Boston.

Offensive explosion

On this date in 1975 the Rangers defeated the Kansas City Scouts 8-2 at Madison Square Garden with two sterling individual offensive performances.   Steve Vickers tied the franchise record for most goals in a game with four and Rod Gilbert‘s five assists also tied the club record.

The Rangers outshot the Scouts 59-18 with their 59 shots the second most ever recorded by the franchise since the NHL started tracking shots in 1959-60.   The team record of 65 shots was set in April 1970.

In an unusual note, 10 Rangers made it onto the scoresheet with 23 points, but all of the points were scored by forwards except one assist for defenseman Gilles Marotte.

The last tie

On this date in 1935, the Rangers played the last tie in Stanley Cup Playoffs history.   It was a 3-3 tie on the road against the Montreal Maroons.  With the tie, the Maroons won the Semi-Final series 1-0-1 because they had beaten the Rangers 2-1 in the first game at Madison Square Garden.

The NHL got rid of ties in the playoffs in 1937, but this was the last tie that was actually played.  In the history of their franchise, the Rangers played eight ties in the playoffs.

Today’s birthdays

33 NHL played have been born on March 30 including five former Rangers.

The most recent March 30 birthday boy to play for the Rangers was tough guy Micheal Haley who was born in 1986 in Guelph, Ontario.  Haley played in two different seasons for the Rangers, first in 2013 and most recently last season.  Best known for his fisticuffs and not his scoring prowess, he led the NHL in penalty minutes while with the Panthers in 2018.  In his two stints in New York he played in 31 games and totaled 62 penalty minutes.

Corey Millen was born on this date in 1964 in Cloquet, Minnesota.  He was a center drafted in the third round in the 1982 Entry Draft.  He made it to the Rangers for 19 games over three years before being traded to the Kings.  He went on to play 335 games in eight NHL seasons.

Doug Wickenheiser was born on this date in 1961 in Regina, Saskatchewan.  He was the first overall pick in the 1980 Entry Draft  by Montreal and will go down as a draft bust though he did play 10 years and in 556 games.  His distinction as a Ranger is that he is tied for the highest goals per game average as a Blueshirt with Eddie Ware.  The reason?  Wickenheiser played one game as a Ranger in 1988 and scored in that game.   That gives him a 1.00 goals per game average, the same as Ware who score two goals in his two games in 1936-37.

Wickenheiser spent most of the 1988-89 season in the minor leagues despite his one one game success and was later traded to the Capitals.

Sandy McGregor was a right winger born on this date in 1939 in Toronto, Ontario.  He played two games in the NHL, both for the Ranger in the 1963-64 season. Scoreless in the two games, he spent seven seasons with the Rangers Baltimore Clippers farm team.

Pierre Jarry was a left winger born on  March 30 in 1949 in Montreal, Quebec.  He was a first round draft pick by the Rangers in 1969, 12th overall and he made it to New York for 34 games in 1971-72 as a 22 year old.   He was traded that season to Toronto for defenseman Jim Dorey.  jarry played eight years in the NHL and WHA.

The numbers

The Rangers are one game over .500 for March 30.  They also have a winning record in the playoffs on this date, including one win in overtime.

Games: 24
Regulation wins: 12
Regulation losses: 11
Ties: 1
Points percentage: .521

Playoffs games: 7
Wins: 3
Losses: 2
Ties: 1
Overtime wins: 1
Winning percentage: 57%