On April 28 in NYR history: Kreider sets a playoffs record

What happened on April 28 in the history of the New York Rangers

Chris Kreider may fall short of the franchise record for goals in a season this year, but on this date in 2012, as a rookie he set an NHL record when he scored the game winning goal in the opener of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Washington Capitals.   The Rangers won 3-1 at Madison Square Garden en route to a seven-game series win over the Caps.

The goal was Kreider’s second game winning goal of the playoffs.  With the goal, Kreider became the first NHL player to score two game winning playoff goals before playing in a regular season game.   He had scored the 3-2 game winner in Game Six of the Quarter-Finals against the Ottawa Senators.

Kreider had joined the Rangers out of Boston College in time for the playoffs and played 18 games, scoring five goals and seven points.

A total collapse

On this date in 2009, the Washington Capitals won Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals by  a 2-1 score.  The win sealed the worst collapse in Rangers’ playoff history as they blew a 3-1 series lead.

The Capitals outscored the Rangers 11-4 over the last three games to take the series.  In the seventh game, the score was tied 1-1 going into the third period with a first period Brandon Dubinsky goal the only score for the Rangers.  39-year-old Sergei Federov scored with 4:59 left in the game to give the Capitals the 2-1 lead.  With the goal, Federov became the oldest player to score a Game Seven winning goal in the playoffs.

Today’s birthdays

29 NHL players have been born on April 28 with five New York Rangers in that group including one with one of the  best nicknames of all time.

Frank Beaton was born on this date in 1953 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.  He was a legendary fighter in the WHA and was given the nickname Frank “Never” Beaton.   He led the WHA in penalty minutes in 1977 with 274 minutes.  He was signed as a free agent in 1978 and spent a season in the AHL before playing 23 games in 1979-80 in New York.  The left winger had one goal and one assist in 23 games while accumulating 43 minutes in penalties.

Ted Donato was born on April 28, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts and played most of his career with the Bruins.    He played 13  seasons in the NHL including a brief stint in New York as a 33-year-old in 2002-03 when he played 49 games.  His son, Ryan, made it to the NHL and Ted is currently the coach of Harvard where he led Adam Fox, Colin Blackwell and Jimmy Vesey among others.

Christian Backman was a defenseman born on this date in 1980 in Alingsas, Sweden.  A first round draft pick of the St. Louis Blues, he found his way to New York in 2008 and played 18 games as a Blueshirt.  He was traded the next season to Columbus along with Fedor Tyutin for Nikolai Zherdev.

Wally Stanowski was born on this date in 1919 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A defenseman, he played seven years in Toronto where he was a First Team All-Star once. He was traded to the Rangers in April 1948 and played in New York for three years.

Bud Stefanski was a center born on this date in 1955 in South Porcupine, Ontario.  He was a ninth round draft pick by the Rangers who made it to the NHL for one game in 1977-78.  He never made it  back to the NHL, playing mostly in the AHL and in Europe.

The numbers

Only one regular season loss on this date and a .500 record in the playoffs.

Playoffs games: 6
Wins: 2
Losses: 2
Overtime wins: 1
Overtime losses: 1
Winning percentage: 50%

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