From the Archives: Lorne Carr – Super Amerk, Super Leaf

Long faded from public memory – their last game was in 1942 – the New York Americans nevertheless fondly are recalled by historians for developing some very special players. One of them – Lorne Carr – was a native of tiny Staughton, Sask. Yet, ironically, this future Amerks hero actually broke into the NHL as a right winger with the rival Rangers.

Blueshirts boss Lester Patrick blew it. He figured that Carr lacked the goods as a forward. Patrick's arch-rival, Mervyn 'Red' Dutton, whose Americans shared Madison Square Garden with the Blueshirts, immediately signed Carr in 1934.

In good time, Red created a line featuring Carr alongside Art Chapman at center with Dave 'Sweeney' Schriner on the portside. Like Boston's Kraut line of Milt Schmidt, Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart, the Amerks trio was hailed as one of the NHL's most threatening offensive units.

"What a bargain Carr turned out to be," Dutton recalled. "In just a few years, he became one of my go-to guys when we needed a clutch goal."

Carr's starry streak on Broadway reached its peak during the 1938 playoffs.

As it happened, the underdog Americans were matched against their perennial nemesis, the Rangers, in a best-of-three first-round series.

"Since we shared the Garden," Carr remembered, "it created a real friction between the teams. It made us bitter rivals. We really hated each other."

Part of that hatred was rooted in the fact that the Rangers – they entered the NHL in 1926, a year after the Amerks – already had won two Stanley Cups. Dutton's club had never come close to sipping championship champagne.

"As usual, the Rangers were favorites in '38, but we also had a real good team," Carr said. "We split the first two games and now, we were up to the clincher. Hockey fans in New York were going nuts about the series, especially before Game 3."

Played at the Garden on March 27, 1938, the game opened with the Rangers cruising to a 2-0 lead. "It looked like like it was in the bag for the Blueshirts," said the late Ben Olan, chief Associated Press hockey writer and an Americans' rooter. "A few fans actually left the building early in the third period thinking the Amerks never could rally."

But the underdogs delivered and tied the game at 2-2, setting the stage for overtime. Of course, no one could imagine it then but the contest evolved into the longest NHL game in New York hockey history. 

After three sudden-death periods, the game remained deadlocked.

"I was near exhaustion when the fourth overtime began," Carr said. "It was around 1:15 in the morning when Red put me out for another shift. I intercepted the puck from (Rangers left wing) Lynn Patrick and took a quick shot at (goalie) Davie Kerr and beat him."

It emerged as the most meaningful win in Amerks history, especially since the club was eliminated by Chicago in the next round. 

Carr continued starring for the Americans through the 1940-41 season. By that time, the cash-strapped New Yorkers needed help, and that forced Dutton into desperate moves. One of them was to trade Carr to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"This was a break for me," said Carr. "I was back with my Americans' buddy, Sweeney Schriner, and I enjoyed my best years in Toronto. I finished in the top five in scoring twice and twice made the first all-star team."

At the very peak of Carr's career, New York World-Telegram artist Willard Mullin drew the pictured caricature of Carr in the newspaper's Jan. 19, 1943 edition. (I only recently discovered it in my 1942-43 scrapbook.) 

Between Lorne's legs in the drawing, Mullin wrote: "Orphaned by the untimely demise of the 'Amoiks', and now with Toronto, he may be the next 30 goaler... He has 21 so far, with almost half a season to go."

Already a hero of the Leafs' stunning 1942 come-from-behind seven-game Cup victory over Detroit, Carr struck again for the Royal Blue and White in the 1945 Cup final round in which Lorne's sextet again defeated the Red Wings in seven games.

Still, looking backward, Lorne singled out his marathon goal against the Rangers in 1938 as the one he treasured more than any other.

Interviewed by Chuck O'Donnell for Chris McDonell's book, The Game I'll Never Forget, Carr put it this way: "That goal would have been memorable no matter who I scored it against. But I scored it against the Rangers – our bitter rivals – it was the goal – and the game I'll always remember!"