Rangers Recall: ‘No Quit New York’ more than a catchphrase
There’s just something more to the whole ‘No Quit NY’ slogan for the New York Rangers this season after another comeback win.
On Thursday, the Blueshirts found themselves down for the third straight game entering the third period. As they did the previous times, New York rallied in Colorado to defeat the Avalanche 3-2 in a shootout.
The comeback victory was their 24th this season, only behind the very same Avalanche squad who have 25. New York is tied with the Detroit Red Wings for first in the NHL with 12 third-period come-from-behind wins.
“It shows resiliency,” coach Peter Laviolette explained. “The fact our guys are playing hard and fight to the end for it.”
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Rangers Recall: Comebacks galore
Rally Rangers strike again
The Rangers introduced the ‘No Quit New York’ slogan during the 2021-22 campaign. That season, they lived up to their catchphrase by posting 27 comeback wins (most in franchise history) en route to 52 wins and a trip to the Eastern Conference Final.
Despite that magical year ending in a six-game series loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the core group built a confidence that they were never out of any game.
Last season, the Blueshirts posted 21 rally victories, but fell short in a hard-fought seven-game series to their Hudson River rivals, the New Jersey Devils. The Rangers were left with a really bad taste in their mouths, and have come into the 2023-24 campaign like a SpaceX rocket off a launching pad, holding first-place in the Metro Division for almost the entire season.
Lately, all the Rangers seem to be doing is coming from behind as they’ve given up the first goal in seven straight contests. That being said, their resiliency has shined bright as they’ve posted a 6-1-0 record in those games.
“You’re gearing up for the playoffs,” said Vincent Trocheck after scoring the shootout winner on Thursday. “Since the trade deadline, we’ve rounded out our game a lot. Hopefully we can continue to get better.”
The most memorable ‘No Quit NY’ Moment for Rangers
Over the years, there have been many good Rangers teams that have shown the ‘Never Surrender’ attitude this recent group has displayed.
While the 2023-24 Rangers have 24 comeback wins (second most in franchise history), nine other renditions of the Blueshirts have posted at least 20 in a season. However, the 1993-94 club will always stand out, and not for any single one of their 20 regular-season rallies.
After losing to the Devils in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final, the players were so despondent that Mark Messier knew he had to do something. Down 3-2 in the series and on the brink of another year being added to the franchise’s miserable curse, the players awoke to the captain’s headline: ‘WE’LL WIN TONIGHT.’
Game Six in New Jersey is easily the greatest Rangers’ playoff win in history. The start of the game didn’t help as the home team poured it on the visitors. Before you knew it, the hungry Devils had a 2-0 lead that felt like it might as well be 10-0.
Then ‘The Captain’ took over.
First, he set up Alexei Kovalev to get the Rangers on the board late in the second period. It was at that moment, you could see seeds of doubt creep into the head of every Devils’ player. In the third period, Messier completed a game for the ages by scoring a hat trick. The game winner was so impressive, and forceful, he not only drove the puck past Martin Brodeur, but Bernie Nicholls too.
The rest is history.
Note: NHL Records was used for this article
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