New York Rangers: Win number 50 in 1994 playoff warmup
In a another New York Rangers cup flashback, we go back to April 4, 1994 when the team posted their 50th win in preparation for the playoffs.
We are back with another New York Rangers Stanley Cup flashback. We have gotten away from these for a few weeks but now, with the playoffs looming, it felt the like the right time to return.
For anyone that hasn’t been around for this, we are taking a look back at the championship season of 1993-1994. After 50 years of heartache and waiting, the Rangers finally gave their fans what they had been waiting for, a Stanley Cup victory.
Tonight, we look back at April 4, 1994. The season was winding down, the regular season anyway. It was almost time for the inevitable post season journey the Rangers were about to embark upon. They just had a few more warmup games to go before the second season began.
More from Empire Writes Back
- Caesars New York Promo Code: Win $250 Bonus GUARANTEED on ANY Bet!
- Last Chance Caesars Promo: Claim $1,250 Bonus for ANY MLB Bet!
- Caesars New York Promo Code Gives TWO Chances to Win Betting on Your Yankees!
- PointsBet New York Promo: FIVE $100 Bonus Bets to Back the Yankees or Mets!
- Caesars NY Promo: $1,250 Bonus to Celebrate the Return of Judge!
The Rangers were looking for their 50th win as they took to the Garden ice to face the Florida Panthers.
In the opposing net was an old friend. John Vanbiesbrouck was looking to spoil the Rangers tune-up game as he took on Mike Richter and the Blueshirts.
The first period ended scoreless as the only real excitement came in a fight between Joe Kocur and Brent Severyn.
New York opened the scoring at the 7:27 mark of the second period. Jeff Beukeboom took a pass from Brian Noonan and put one behind Vanbiesbrouck.
The Rangers led 1-0.
Just over eight minutes later, the Panthers netted the equalizer. On the power play, Keith Brown scored his eight of the year to tie the game at one.
In the third, the Rangers went ahead to stay. Just 2:16 in, Sergei Nemchinov put his 22nd behind Vanbiesbrouck on a pass from Greg Gilbert to put the Rangers up 2-1. The insurance came at 4:39 with Steve Larmer‘s 19th, coming on the power play.
Scott Mellanby scored his 28th for Florida on the power play to make it 3-2 at the 12:05 mark. They could never bring the game back to even, and the Rangers took this one 3-2.
I was able to find a couple of highlights for you to enjoy:
Sather steps down. dark. Next
Vanbiesbrouck was solid in the loss, stopping 37 out of 40 Rangers shots. To be fair he looked like the guy we used to root for when he wore Rangers colors. On this night, Richter was just a bit better, stopping 29 out of 31 for the win.
And the Rangers hit the 50 win mark, putting another exclamation point on a fabulous season. Soon enough, we would learn how fabulous. Stay tuned.