Brad Penner-Imagn ImagesHidden in the cobwebs of Rangers history are not one but two sensational goaltending stories that – coupled together – miraculously resulted in the Blueshirts first Stanley Cup triumph.
As The Maven detailed yesterday, the Rangers were only two-years old when they reached the 1928 Stanley Cup Final Round.
Because the Montreal Maroons, New York's foe, was a hardened, experienced Cup-winner the Rangers entered the series as distinct underdogs.
"Even though we did very well in our first (1926-27) season," said manager Lester Patrick,
"We were treated like Nobody's against the famous Maroons."
But the Blueshirts had Lady Luck on their side. When ace goalie Lorne Chabot was badly injured in the second game – Rangers lost the opener – they had no replacement. Yet that's when the first miracle came into play.
What was Patrick going to do without a goalie and with none of his players willing to face the threatening Maroons?
Of all the unlikely solutions, the best came from a newspaper reporter, James Burchard of the New York World-Telegram who for some reason was in the Rangers clubhouse in the midst of the crisis.
It was Jim who – in one of the most unlikely hockey sagas – told Patrick, "YOU put on the pads, Les," and the boss obeyed.
As I noted yesterday, the inexperienced, 44-year-old Patrick had the guts – and gall – to listen to the hockey writer and then think he could stop the Maroons and then did just that.
It has gone down – by hockey writers who were there as well as historians – as the "Greatest Hockey Story of All-Time."
It holds the top of the list because Lester held the vaunted Maroons to one goal and that was enough to force overtime.
"It was in the sudden-death period that Lester had the most pressure," recalled center Frank Boucher, "because it still was a 1-1 game and we had to get another goal for our manager."
Patrick was tested three times and made the saves but so did Montreal goalie Clint Benedict who came up with three key stops. Then, center Frank Boucher's rink-length dash resulted in the winning goal and New York's 2-1 triumph.
"Because of the hullabaloo over Lester's sensational performance, all the world seems to have forgotten that his win that night, did not get the Cup for us," Boucher remembered. "The series was only tied, 1-1" Then, a pause:
"We still had to find another goalie and continue on the road to the Cup. That was tough because we didn't know where to find one; and once we did, the battle had to continue."