On April 22 in NYR history: The last time the Rangers won a playoff series

What happened on April 22 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 2017, the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 at Madison Square Garden, winning their Eastern Conference First Round series four games to two.  It was the last playoff series the Rangers won before embarking on a rebuild that saw them gut the team, trading away established players for draft picks and prospects.

It’s a milestone the 2021-22 Rangers hope to eliminate.

The Rangers were led by Mats Zuccarello’s two second period goals and Henrik Lundqvist’s 22 saves. Of the seven Rangers on the scoresheet, the only player still with the team is Mika Zibanejad with Zuccarello, Ryan McDonagh, J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes, Derek Stepan all traded ad Dan Girardi bought out.

The Rangers would go on to play the Ottawa Senators in the next round, falling to them in six games.

The third general manager

On this date in 1955, Frank Boucher resigned as general manager of the New York Rangers and was replaced by Muzz Patrick.  Patrick became only the third GM in franchise history as Boucher had replaced the original GM, Lester Patrick in1946.

In his ten years as GM, Boucher’s Rangers had made the Stanley Cup Finals once, in 1950 while making the playoffs only twice.

Islanders domination

In 1983 on April22,  the New York Islanders beat the Rangers 5-2 at Madison Square Garden in Game Six of the Patrick Division Finals to win the series four games to two.  It was the Islanders 14th straight playoff series win en route to  a record 19 straight series wins.

It was the third of four straight years that the Rangers were defeated in the playoffs by their arch rivals from Long Island.

Today’s birthdays

There have been 26 NHL players born on April 22.  Six of them played for the Rangers.

Dan Cloutier was  goalie selected in the first round of the 1994 Entry Draft.  He was born on this date in 1976 in Mont-Laurier, Quebec.   Cloutier played two seasons in New York before going to Tampa in a trade that netted the Blueshirts the fourth overall pick in the 1999 Draft, Pavel Brendl, one of the biggest busts in Rangers draft history.  Cloutier was later traded to Vancouver where he was the number one netminder for five years.

Bert Connolly was born on this date in 1909 in Montreal, Quebec. He was a left winger who played two of his three NHL season with the Rangers.  He finished second in Calder Trophy voting in his rookie season in New York in 1935.

Doug Jarrett was a solid NHL defenseman born on this date in 1944 in London, Ontario.  He played 11 years with the Chicago Black Hawks before being traded to the Rangers late in his career for goalie Gilles Villemure.  He played one full season as a Ranger in 1975-76.

Phil Latrelle was a forward who was born on April 22, 1983 in Montreal, Quebec. He played four games for the Rangers in 1960-61, the only games he played in the NHL.  He failed to score a point in those four games

Enver Lisin was born on this date in 1986 in Moscow, USSR.  He was a right winger who was a Phoenix draft pick, traded to the Rangers in 2009 for Lauri Korpikoski. Lisin played one season in New York, scoring six goals before returning to Russia. That trade was another misguided Rangers deal as Korpikoski, a first round pick by New York, played six years in Phoenix, scoring 62 goals in 401 games.

Glen Sonmor was born on this date in 1929 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  A rugged left winger, he played 28 games over two season from 1953-55 for the Rangers. In those 28 games he scored two goals.  Sonmore is better known as the coach of the Minnesota North Stars for ten seasons from 1976 to 1987.

The numbers

Only one regular season game, thanks to COVID and a positive playoff record.

Playoffs games: 12
Wins: 5
Losses: 5
Overtime wins: 2
Winning percentage: 58%

Regular season games: 1
Regulation wins: 0
Regulation losses: 1
Points percentage: .000