On May 20 in NYR history: Passing of the torch

What happened on May 20 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1997, the New York Rangers lost Game Three of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-3, in a game that was closer than the score indicated.  With the win, the Flyers took a 2-1 lead in a series they were going to win in five games.

Anyone with a sense of history could see that there was symbolic passing of the torch.  Wayne Gretzky had scored a hat trick in Game Two, pacing the Rangers to 5-4 win.  In this game, it was Eric Lindros who had the hat trick as the hulking Flyers center took over the game.

The Rangers had won eight of their first ten playoff games, but this was the first time they lost two games in a playoff series.  The were decimated by injuries, the worst  forcing Brian Leetch’s injured wrist that limited his playing time. Mike Richter had allowed only 14 goals in his first ten playoff games, but the Flyers had strafed him for 12 goals in three games.

It was a last gasp for the Blueshirts as they clawed back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, but the bigger and healthier Flyers were too much for them.

A devastating loss

In a thrilling game, the Rangers dropped a 6-5 overtime heartbreaker to the Tampa Bay Lightning on this date in 2015.  It was Game Three of the Eastern Conference Finals and the two teams had split the first two games in New York.  The Blueshirts jumped out to a two goal lead in the first period, but the Lightning answered back with four straight scores to hold  4-2 lead with under three minutes left in the second period.

Jesper Fast scored his second goal of the game only 29 seconds after the Lightning had scored to bring the Rangers within a goal and Ryan McDonagh scored to tie the game just 2:28 into the third period.  Ondrej Palat scored to put Tampa up 5-4, but the Rangers came back yet again when Dan Boyle scored with only 1:56 left in the game.

It was all for naught as Nikita Kucherov scored just 3:33 into the overtime to seal the win for Tampa. It was a wild series with the Rangers outscoring the Lightning 13-4 in their next two wins, but dropping two 2-0 shutouts as Tampa won to advance to the Final.

Today’s birthdays

20 NHL players have been born on May 20 including two New York Rangers and one executive who never played for the Blueshirts, but ran the team for six years.

Craig Patrick was born on this date in 1946 in Detroit, Michigan.  Patrick was a member of hockey’s first family, the Patricks.   His grandfather was Lester Patrick, Cup winning manager-coach of the Rangers.  His father was Lynn Patrick who played in New York.  Craig Patrick was named General Manager in 1981, the youngest GM in franchise history.  Having served as Assistant Coach of the US Olympic hockey team in 1980, he brought Herb Brooks to New York as coach.   He was never able to bring a Cup to New York, mostly because the Rangers were eliminated annually by the Islanders dynasty.   He did go on to win two Stanley Cups as GM of the Penguins and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001, the third Patrick to be honored.

Dan Blackburn was born on this date in 1983 in Montreal, Quebec.  The goaltender was drafted 10th overall in the 2001 Entry Draft and was seen as the heir apparent to Mike Richter.  He played one full season as Richter’s backup, making the all-rookie team in 2002.   With Richter out with a concussion the following season Blackburn had a heavy workload that proved too much for him so the Rangers traded for Mike Dunham.   That off-season, Blackburn damaged a nerve in his shoulder lifting weights and was never able to resume his NHL career.  He retired in 2005 in order to collect a $6 million insurance payout.

Jim Ross was born on this date in 1926 in Edinburgh, Scotland.  He was raised in Canada and made it to the NHL to play 62 games for the Rangers over two seasons in the early 1950s.  The defenseman played for the Saskatoon Quakers in the WHL after leaving the Rangers.

The numbers

Playoff games: 2
Wins: 0
Losses: 1
Overtime losses: 1
Winning percentage: 00%