New York Rangers memories: A scoreless tie on Christmas Eve 75 years ago
It’s hard to believe now that Christmas Eve used to be a day when the NHL wasn’t reluctant to schedule games. In fact, the league didn’t stop playing games on Dec. 24 until 1972, one year after it called a halt to games on the actual holiday.
The New York Rangers didn’t lose in their six Christmas Eve games. But perhaps the most memorable of those six contests was one they didn’t win – or even score a goal.
The Rangers arrived at the Montreal Forum on Dec. 24, 1949, in a three-way battle for the final two playoff spots in the six-team league. The Canadiens were second with a record of 12-11-8, good for 32 points; the Rangers came to town 11-11-6, tied with the Boston Bruins for the fourth and final spot, although the Rangers had four games in hand on Boston.
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Rangers, Canadiens played 0-0 tie on Christmas Eve 1949
What followed was the only scoreless NHL tie ever played on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, a battle for the ages between future Hall of Fame goaltenders Bill Durnan of the Canadiens and Chuck Rayner of the Rangers.
A crowd of 12,085 showed up at the Forum to see the two lowest-scoring teams in the NHL face off. The Montreal Gazette pointed out before the game that, “(Coach) Lynn Patrick is having his trouble with the Rangers, and they are virtually the same troubles that (coach) Dick Irvin is having with Canadiens.”
Both teams were excellent defensively, though. The Canadiens came into the game having allowed a League-low 61 goals; the Rangers were next at 68.
Patrick said before the game that “We can’t put the puck in the net. There’s nothing wrong with us defensively, but we can’t score goals and you need goals to win.”
Still, the idea that neither team would turn on the red light even once was a shocker – remember, the Canadiens had stars like Maurice “Rocket” Richard, who ended up leading the NHL with 43 goals in the 70-game season, as well as future Hall of Famers Elmer Lach up front and Doug Harvey on the blue line. But that’s exactly what happened.
“Close checking kept goal shots at a minimum,” the New York Daily News wrote. “The Canadiens held an edge on play, outshooting the Rangers, 30-15. They missed plenty of scoring opportunities.”
However, those shots on goal numbers aren’t official; the NHL didn’t keep official shots totals until 1955-56.
Durnan and Rayner were clearly the stars of the night.
“Big Bill Durnan [of the Canadiens] and Bonnie Prince Charlie Rayner [of the Rangers], the two top net-minders in the game today, were in peak form as they turned aside every shot directed at them,” the Daily News added.
Rayner had to work harder; the Rangers were called for four minor penalties to two for the Canadiens. Jack Lancien and Fred Shero (yes, THAT Fred Shero) each was assessed two minors, giving Montreal a total of eight minutes of power-play time. Richard led the NHL that season with 13 power-play goals, but he couldn’t beat Rayner on Dec. 24.
This shutout was Durnan’s fifth of the season and the 31st of his career. Rayner earned his third shutout of the season and the 17th of his career. Durnan was playing his last of seven seasons for the Canadiens, having earned the Vezina Trophy (then given to the No. 1 goalie on the team that allowed the fewest goals) in all but one of them.
Rayner, Durnan matched zeroes on Dec. 24, 1949
Rayner, who had played two seasons with the New York Americans before joining the Rangers in 1945 after World War II ended, was on the way to the best season of his career, even if his numbers weren’t as good as Durnan’s. He finished with a 28-30-11 record, 2.62 goals-against average and six shutouts. He wound up winning the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP after carrying the Rangers to a fourth-place finish.
But that was just a warmup for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Rayner and his teammates shut down Richard and the Canadiens in the Semifinals, winning in five games.
That got them into the Final against the Detroit Red Wings, who had run away from the pack on the way to a first-place finish. The Rangers couldn’t play at Madison Square Garden, so five of the seven games were at the Detroit Olympia, with two “home” games for New York played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
“We beat Montreal in five games, which was quite an upset,” Rayner told longtime hockey maven Stan Fischler after his retirement. “That put us in the Cup Final against Detroit — really, a David and Goliath matchup since the Wings finished more than 20 points ahead of us.”
With Rayner standing on his head and Don Raleigh scoring overtime goals in Games 4 and 5, the Rangers took a 3-2 series lead – only to see the Red Wings rally to win Game 6 and capture Game 7 in double overtime on a goal by Pete Babando.
Rayner, who died in 2002, didn’t get his Cup, but he did get inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973 despite a 138-207-78 record.
“The best way to understand how great a goalie Charlie was,” longtime hockey publicist Stan Saplin said, “is that he never had a season with a winning record and yet, the hockey experts voted Rayner into the Hall of Fame.”
His play on that Christmas Eve in Montreal 75 years ago sure didn’t hurt his case.
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