On May 12 in NYR history: David Quinn fired

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

Just one week after the Rangers fired Team President John Davidson and General Manager Jeff Gorton, the team completed the sweep, firing David Quinn after three years as coach. They also fired assistant coaches David Oliver, Greg Brown and Jacques Martin while retaining goalie coach Benoit Allaire.

Quinn’s doom was inevitable after the shake-up of team management as he had been handpicked by Jeff Gorton and was behind the bench when the team was manhandled by Tom Wilson and the Washington Capitals.  He also was in charge when the Rangers were unexpectedly swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifier.

Quinn had been hired because of his reputation for developing young players at Boston University, but had an inconsistent tenure as coach. Despite leading a team with some top draft picks, there was concern over a lack of development of players like Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafrenière as he became over-reliant on his established stars in an effort to win.

In his three seasons, Quinn led the team to record of 96-87-25 so he left with an NHL-enhanced winning record and he did have the team in contention for the playoffs for his last two seasons behind the bench. His  96 wins rank 11th overall among Rangers’ coaches.

A rare series win over Washington

The New York Rangers have a long history of playing the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  After beating Washington the first time them met in 1986, the Rangers lost five of the next six series with the only win in 1994 when the Rangers won the Cup.

The Blueshirts had lost two straight time to the Caps, in 2009 and 2011 when they met in the 2012 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals and on this date in 2012, the Rangers won Game Seven of that series to advance to the Conference Finals against the Devils.

The Rangers never trailed in the game, winning 2-1 at Madison Square Garden.  Brad Richards led off the scoring, just a minute and a half into the game and Michael Del Zotto gave the a 2-0 lead in the third period.  They needed that goal when Roman Hamrlik scored for Washington with just over nine minutes left in the third period.

Henrik Lundqvist was the first star of the game, turning aside 22 Washington shots, but it was the Rangers’ stifling defense that won the game as they held the Capitals to only four shots in the third period.

Today’ birthdays

29 NHL players have been born on May 12 with one current AHL Ranger and two former Rangers sharing the same birthday.

Adam Huska was born on this date in 1997 in Zvolen, Slovaki. The goalie was a seventh round draft pick by the Rangers and has played the last three years at Hartford after a very successful career at the University of Connecticut.  He played in one game in New York this season, starting against the best team in the league, the Colorado Avalanche. It was a tough debut as he gave up seven goals.

Antti Raanta was born on this date in 1989 in Rauma, Finland. Raanta spent two seasons with the Blackhawks before the Rangers traded for him. He spent two seasons as Henrik Lundqvist’s back up before he was dealt to the Arizona Coyotes in 2017.  He has been hampered by injuries in his time in Arizona, though he has been their top goalie since he arrived there.

Sherman White was a center born on May 12, 1923 in Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick.  A career minor leaguer, he played four games over two seasons for the Rangers in 1946-47 and 1949-50.   He finished his NHL career with two assists in those four games.

The numbers

An undefeated record in the playoffs makes May12 a good day in Rangers’ history.

Playoff games: 3
Wins: 2
Losses: 0
Overtime wins: 1
Winning percentage: 100%