“We are looking forward to the celebration of the Rangers Centennial season – one that will be truly unforgettable for our fans and honors the Rangers’ storied history,” MSG Sports executive chairman and CEO James Dolan said. “This is a special opportunity to recognize the great moments, players, and so much more that has brought us all together for a century of Rangers hockey.”

Something’s in the air… pic.twitter.com/Sxy4YA6lZE

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 15, 2025

Hall of Fame broadcaster Sam Rosen, who retired after last season after a 40-year run as the TV voice of the Rangers, will return to the Garden and serve as Master of Ceremonies for the on-ice portion of select theme nights.

Full list of Centennial Nights. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/daK6JnllPP

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 15, 2025

Let’s take a look at the eight special theme nights to be held at MSG this season.

Related: Why former Rangers coach told Henrik Lundqvist ‘You’re not the f***ing King!’

Birth of a Franchise: Oct. 20 vs. Minnesota Wild

The Rangers were actually an offshoot of the long-departed New York Americans. The Amerks drew so well that Tex Rickard, who ran the Garden, decided MSG should have its own team. Thus were the Rangers born – they entered the NHL along with the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars (now the Red Wings) in the fall of 1926. The fledgling Rangers finished first in their division in 1926-27 and won the Stanley Cup the following season.

With Hall of Famers like Frank Boucher and Bill Cook leading the way, the Rangers were among the League’s most successful teams during their first 15 seasons in the NHL. They won the Cup again in 1933 and took it home for a third time in 1940, when another Hall of Famer, Bryan Hextall, scored the overtime winner in Game 6 of the Final in Toronto.

The Rangers of that era were known as “The Classiest Team in Hockey” – a night at the Garden was an event, with numerous celebrities often in attendance and many fans “dressing to the nines.” This night honors those early teams and their contribution toward building the franchise.

Milestones and Memories: Nov. 8 vs. New York Islanders

Vic Hadfield becoming the first Ranger to score 50 goals in a season. Ed Giacomin and Gilles Villemure sharing the Vezina Trophy. Triple-overtime goals by Pete Stemkowski and Marian Gaborik. And, of course, Mark Messier’s Cup-winning goal in Game 7 of the 1994 Final against the Vancouver Canucks that gave the Rangers their first championship in 54 years.

All these and more will be celebrated when the archrival Islanders make their first visit of the season to the Garden in early November. Don’t be surprised if there’s a mention of the first round of the 1994 playoffs, when the Rangers handed the Isles one of the worst beatings in postseason history, a four-game sweep that saw them outscore their biggest rival 22-3.

Original Six Era (1942-67): Nov. 16 vs. Detroit Red Wings

The Americans went out of business after the 1941-42 season, leaving the NHL with just six teams – none west of Chicago – for the next 25 years. The Rangers roster was decimated by World War II and they didn’t really recover until the mid-1950s, when a new wave of talent led by Hockey Hall of Famers Andy Bathgate and Gump Worsley arrived on the scene.

It’s appropriate that Detroit is the opponent on this night: Bathgate scored one of the most famous goals in Rangers history – a penalty-shot tally against the Red Wings on March 14, 1962, that was the key to getting the Rangers back into the playoffs. One of the most painful memories of that era also came against the Red Wings; Pete Babando’s double-overtime goal in Game 7 of the 1950 Final denied the Rangers another championship.

The New Garden (1967-91): Dec. 13 vs. Montreal Canadiens

The current Madison Square Garden opened midway through the 1967-68 season (the Rangers defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 in their first game). The opening of the new Garden, with its five levels of colored seats (red, orange, yellow, green and blue), coincided with the rebirth of the Rangers under coach-GM Emile Francis, who got the Blueshirts to the Stanley Cup Final in 1972 (Rangers fans had to watch the Bruins skate around with the Cup after winning Game 6 at MSG).

The first two-plus decades of the “new” Garden also saw the Rangers reach the Final in 1979 (they lost in five games to the Montreal Canadiens after upsetting the Islanders in the Semifinals), the Herb Brooks era, a surprise trip to the Semifinals in 1986 behind Vezina Trophy winner John Vanbiesbrouck, and a first-place finish (in the Patrick Division) in 1989-90 – their first since 1941-42.

Fan Favorites: Jan. 8 vs. Buffalo Sabres

Current Rangers forward Matt Rempe is proof that the most popular Rangers aren’t always the stars. Staten Island native Nick Fotiu was the Rempe of his era – he was beloved by Garden fans for his willingness to stand up for his teammates and hit opponents – and score the occasional goal. He was also renowned for tossing pucks into the stands at the end of warmups.

There also figure to be plenty of “Eddie” cheers for Giacomin, arguably the most popular Rangers goaltender of all time, who died Monday at age 86. Players like Stemkowski, John Davidson, Adam Graves and numerous others whose names still bring back fond memories for Blueshirts faithful can also expect a warm welcome.

Legendary Blueshirts: Jan. 26 vs. Boston Bruins

Want to get an idea of who will be here on this night? Start with Messier, whose No. 11 hangs in the rafters at MSG. Add Graves, Brian Leetch, Mike Richter, Hadfield, Jean Ratelle and Henrik Lundqvist. Then there are those who are no longer with us — Giacomin, Howell, Bathgate and arguably the greatest Blueshirt of them all, Rod Gilbert, who passed away in August 2022.

Hopefully early-era players such as Cook and Boucher are also remembered for their accomplishments despite not having their numbers retired.

Goaltenders: Feb. 5 vs. Carolina Hurricanes

The Rangers have been blessed with elite goaltending for most of their time in the NHL. Dave Kerr not only carried them to the 1940 Cup, he was the second hockey player ever featured on the cover of Time magazine (in March 1938).

Chuck Rayner got the Rangers within one goal of winning the Stanley Cup in 1950, Worsley excelled for the Rangers in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and Giacomin (by himself and then in a tandem with Villemure) was a key to the team’s revival under Francis.

Richter was the first Rangers goaltender to win 300 games and the last to win the Cup. Lundqvist is sixth in NHL history with 459 wins and owns the team record with 64 shutouts. He was succeeded by Igor Shesterkin, who has continued the Rangers tradition of elite goaltending.

The Modern Era (2004-Present): March 5 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

The Rangers haven’t won the Stanley Cup since play resumed after the 2004-05 lockout, but they’ve been among the more successful teams in the past two decades.

Their accomplishments include a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, five trips to the Eastern Conference Final (2012-14-15, 2022 and 2024), and winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2024.

There have been plenty of individual accomplishments as well.

Jaromir Jagr set franchise single-season records for goals (54) and points (123) in 2005-06. Artemi Panarin reached the 120-point mark in 2023-24, Adam Fox won the Norris Trophy as the League’s top defenseman in 2021 and Chris Kreider became the fourth player in team history to score 50 goals in a season when he had 52 in 2021-22. Then there’s the achievements of Lundqvist and Shesterkin, who won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender 10 years apart.

Mike Richter has firsthand knowledge of that truth. He also has the experience of coming out on the other side of the darkly disappointing 1992-93 season to win the Stanley Cup with the Rangers the following campaign.

That’s why his take on this season’s Rangers offers a glimmer of hope for what could lie ahead for the core of the current team.

“First and foremost, this adversity and these challenges galvanize you and make you a better player and a better organization,” Richter told Forever Blueshirts. “That’s what pro sports is about — find a way — because it’s the best against the best, the best players in the world, and nobody’s giving up an inch easily.”

Perhaps the current Rangers can take solace in those words as they continue to dig out of the mess they created with a heinous 4-15-0 stretch in November and December. Despite entering the season as Stanley Cup favorites in many circles after getting within two wins of the Cup Final last spring, the Rangers’ season appeared to be dead in the water before the new year arrived.

That’s not unlike the 1992-93 Rangers, who were Cup favorites after winning the Presidents’ Trophy the season prior — and with the reigning Hart Trophy winner in Mark Messier and Norris Trophy winner in Brian Leetch at the height of their powers.

But anything and everything that could go wrong did for the Rangers that season. From injuries to locker-room issues to a coaching change. Heck, even Messier — yes The Captain — was loudly booed off the ice in his final home game of the 1992-93 season at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers went from Stanley Cup contenders at the start the season to a last-place finish in the Patrick Division.

“We had some injuries and didn’t play our best. We had a target on our back. We were a team that people got up for, it was a different approach others teams had to us. It was a different road to get to the playoffs for us. And we had to learn from it,” Richter explained. “The biggest lesson was little things matter. Attention to detail. The best organizations have that, and we had to learn that.”

With Mike Keenan behind the bench and a steely team-wide resolve to turn things around, the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy in 1993-94. Then with Richter earning all 16 victories during the postseason, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1940.

From the lowest of lows just one year prior to the top of the mountain.

Related: Neil Smith believes Rangers ‘set up’ to land playoff spot, but there’s a catch

Mike Richter believes this about Rangers: No team ‘wants to see them in playoffs’

Of course, we don’t know how the story ends for the current Rangers, whether this season or next. This team could very well still make the playoffs — they’re tied for ninth in the Eastern Conference, four points behind the two wild-cards teams with 24 games to play. Like the 1992-93 squad, which lost its stud defenseman Leetch for two extended stretches (shoulder injury and broken ankle), the current Rangers begin life without Adam Fox after he landed on IR with an upper-body injury.

So it’s not quite an apples-to-apples comparison between the two teams. But handling adversity and fighting through challenges to come out to a brighter side resonates as an important lesson the Rangers can take from the ’94 champions.

“The League is so competitive now,” Richter said. “The regular season matters — you have to remember that, can’t get ahead of yourself.”

Richter stated that there are many reasons to remain bullish on these Rangers, despite their struggles.

“The Rangers have put themselves in a great position. They have great young players. I think they’re one of the most exciting team in the League and it’s been that way for the last few years,” he explained. “They have the best goalie on earth — best two goalies on earth, I don’t see how you get much better than having Jonathan Quick behind [Igor] Shesterkin.”

That sounds a bit like assessing the Rangers from 1992-93. There was plenty of talent on that team, too, and they were set at the most critical position with a heckuva good goalie. Richter, who was handed the No. 1 role in 1993-94 after sharing the net for years with John Vanbiesbrouck, took it to the next level.

That story ended with a parade down the Canyon of Heroes.

Richter won’t go as far as to say that’s the end story this time. But he likes where the Rangers are headed and believes overcoming adversity can be a big part of their future success.

“They’ve positioned themselves for great things, but no one’s giving it to them. They’ve got to figure that out as a group.,” Richter stated. “They’re a dangerous team. I don’t think there’s anybody in the East that wants to see them in the playoffs.”

The 1994 Stanley Cup champion goalie and 23-year-old power forward recently filmed a promotional video where the pair battle in a variety of arcade games, including air hockey, in New York City. Each is wearing a Rangers-themed top to help launch the Todd Snyder by Fanatics for NHL collection of limited edition luxe menswear.

Will Cuylle & #NYR legend Mike Richter team up in @Fanatics spot for new #NHL limited edition line of clothing from @ToddSnyderNY pic.twitter.com/ahYS4g1Wbl

— Jim Cerny (@JimCerny) February 27, 2025

“I’m an old enough man that I’m taking all of my fashion advice from my son, who says this is the best stuff made, so we love it,” Richter told Forever Blueshirts, with a laugh. “[Todd Snyder and Fanatics] are truly leaders in the space and true professionals, so it was cool to be a part of it.”

The initial launch features 12 NHL teams, including the Rangers. All 32 NHL teams will be included in the future.

“Hockey is a sport I’ve always loved to watch, and I’ve always admired how it has some of the most stylish and tailored players in sports. Partnering with Fanatics and the NHL was a natural choice,” said Todd Snyder, Founder and President of Todd Snyder. “They’ve revolutionized how fans connect with their teams, and we saw an opportunity to merge their innovation in sports apparel with our dedication to quality and design. Together, we’re creating fan gear that feels just as at home on the runway as it does in the arena.”

In the video, Richter wears a cashmere rugby shirt and Cuylle rocks a Canadian fleece oversized hoodie.

“Will is a great guy and we had a lot of fun, hung out in the arcade all day and had a blast,” Richter explained. “Two things I gleaned from the entire experience: I’m very short and I’m very old next to Will. That was kind of the odd couple there.”

Turning a touch more serious, Richter added, “It’s fun to do those things … interesting and creative ways of supporting the teams. I loved being a part of it.”

Richter, 58, is the second-winningest goalie in Rangers history with 301 victories, behind only Hockey Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist (459). He earned all 16 victories during the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs to lead the Rangers to their only championship since 1940.

Cuylle has scored an NHL career-high 15 goals this season, his second in the NHL. He is third among all NHL skaters with 217 hits in 58 games.

The Rangers team store at Madison Square Garden will carry the Todd Snyder collection, which was released Wednesday and will be available Friday, when the Blueshirts host the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The full collection will be sold exclusively at Fanatics.com and NHLShop.com.

The Rangers (13-10-1) return to action Friday when they host Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins (11-12-4) at Madison Square Garden. It seems like decades ago that the Rangers ran roughshod over the Penguins on opening night in Pittsburgh, winning 6-0.

Somehow the Rangers are only one point ahead of the Penguins in the Metropolitan Division with three games in hand. Part of the reason is that New York has lost six of their past seven games and Pittsburgh is on a season-long four-game winning streak.

Oh, and Crosby? He recently scored the 600th goal of his NHL career, and plays his 1,300th game on Friday.

CLICK HERE to shop at the Forever Blueshirts store

New York Rangers news

Let’s get you set for the Rangers-Penguins clash with our three things to watch for on Friday.

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette stopped the line juggling this week in practice, so we should see more familiar groupings against the Penguins.

On the ice, the Rangers will try to get back on the winning track after a 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Monday. Off of it, NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman says the Rangers are the “team to watch” when it comes to making a trade in the upcoming days or weeks.

We’ve got you covered for the 4 Nations Face-Off, including Mike Richter’s take on the international tournament taking place in February. In addition, John Kreiser and I debate whether Rangers fans care at all about the 4 Nations Face-Off; and we break down which five Blueshirts will participate in the tournament.

Finally, it was fun night in Hartford, where Matt Rempe, Victor Mancini and Bryce McConnell-Barker supported Alex Belzile’s second hat trick of the season in an explosive 6-1 Wolf Pack victory.

NHL news

The Chicago Blackhawks (8-16-2) fired coach Luke Richardson and replaced him on an interim basis with Anders Sorenson, who was coaching Rockford in the American Hockey League. Richards is the third NHL coach fired already this season, joining Jim Montgomery (Boston Bruins) and Drew Bannister (St. Louis Blues).

The hits keep coming to the Nashville Predators. They learned that forward Ryan O’Reilly is week to week with a lower-body injury, then went out and lost their sixth straight game, 3-0 to the Montreal Canadiens.

Speaking of that win by the Canadiens, Patrik Laine scored again and has two goals in two games since returning from a knee injury.

Watch this: Two NHL players scored two goals in 23 seconds Thursday night. Brandon Hagel did so for the Tampa Bay Lightning in an 8-1 thrashing of the San Jose Sharks; and Owen Tippett of the Philadelphia Flyers did it during a 7-5 loss to the Florida Panthers.

On the night the Edmonton Oilers held a pregame ceremony to celebrate Connor McDavid reaching 1,000 points in the NHL, the superstar center went out and had four assists in a 6-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

But the best performance of his career arguably came two years later, when he was in goal for the United States and led the Americans to victory at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey – still the last time the U.S. has won a best-on-best hockey tournament. Richter and his teammates defeated Canada in a best-of-3 championship series to win gold, and he was named the tournament’s MVP.

Richter is hoping to lose his distinction as the last U.S. goalie to win a best-on-best tournament when the United States faces Canada, Sweden and Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off. The tournament will run from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston. It’s the first best-on-best tournament since the World Cup of Hockey 2016 in Toronto, which was won by Canada.

Richter, now 58, told NHL.com this week that he’s excited to see the return of best-on-best international hockey.

“As a fan, as a player, you want to be in those tournaments,” he told NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. “You have the added responsibility and respect and just honor of putting your country’s jersey on. We all talk about it in the same kind of way, but it’s true. I mean, you have your pride, if nothing else, and you want to beat everybody across from you — but I think the best part about it as a player and as a fan is you are truly seeing the best of the best that are motivated to play well.

“You’re going to get some amazing hockey. I think sports, when you really can’t predict the outcome, it’s compelling, right. It’s a 1-1 game in the last two minutes, you have to sit in your chair and watch this thing. Overtime too. That’s why you do it. And every game in this tournament is going to be like this.”

Richter represented the United States many times on the international stage, outside of the 1996 World Cup victory. He appeared in three Winter Olympics — the 1988 Calgary games right before he turned pro, then the 1998 Nagano Olympics and the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, when he played for the Rangers.

He also tended goal for the United States at the 1991 Canada Cup, where his partner in net was Rangers teammate John Vanbiesbrouck.

Related: Rangers debate: Will fans care about 4 Nations Face-Off even with 5 Blueshirts taking part?

Rangers great believes United States has ‘abundance of riches’ right now at goalie position

If there’s one position where the United States is loaded right now, it’s in goal. Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars and Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins were selected from a deep talent pool.

Richter said the hard part of having so many talented goaltenders for this event is that there’s only one net and a maximum of four games.

“You have almost an abundance of riches there that makes it difficult. When you have one or two guys, you know what you’re doing and just whoever is hot you go with. In the end you want to do the same thing in this tournament — but you also want to give everybody a look and it’s really hard to do,” Richter explained. “So, as we are playing right now, these guys also have an eyeball toward thinking, ‘Let me play my best, let me get myself prepared for this,’ and then it’s just whoever is in a good rhythm at the time because you want to hit the ground running. You have to hit the ground running. You can’t lose a game. You can’t lose a period. You’re going to be behind the eight ball if you do.”

One odd feeling for players in these tournaments, according to Richter, is playing with teammates they’re not familiar with – and who might come from some of their biggest rivals. Richter noted that the widening universe of hockey in the United States might result in the U.S. players being less familiar with each other than they were when he played.

“Communication is key,” he said. You really have to have it. I was lucky because (Rangers teammate) Brian Leetch was on every team I think I was ever on since I was about 15, and we knew each other well. The U.S. had a kind of small group of guys that had played together a lot, so the communication was really good. We had a bit of an older team in 2002 (for the Winter Olympics), but when I think about 1996 it was the same kind of group and with the influx of the Billy Guerins and Keith Tkachuks, who were amazing players and added so much energy.”

Richter, who finished his NHL career with 301 wins, second most in Rangers history, said he has great admiration for veteran Blueshirts goalie Jonathan Quick, who used to be No. 1 in goal for years with the United States national teams, and now backs up Igor Shesterkin on Broadway. Quick looked like he was done after the 2022-23 season, but the 38-year-old has revived his career with the Rangers, the team he grew up rooting for in Connecticut, and is now two victories away from becoming the first U.S.-born goalie with 400 wins.

“I cannot say enough things about this guy,” Richter said about the three-time Stanley Cup champion and 2012 Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP. “His career in itself has been amazing … he’s resurrected it too. I can’t remember how many wins he had last year with the Rangers (18), but he got the Rangers 30 points or something like that. Really important points. And that’s such a difficult position to be in. 

“Igor Shesterkin is an amazing goalie, but when you get tapped to play that game it’s an important win to get and he did nothing but play professionally. So, you know he’s preparing like a madman for that time, and then he comes out, and this guy is stealing games like every time the guy plays. I mean, how lucky are we as sports fans that we get to see Shesterkin and Quick play. They’re two of the best to ever play the game.”

“I love them all,” the unabashed Rangers fan said on the Rink Rap podcast presented by Forever Blueshirts this week.

But when asked which goalie at the height of his powers she’d want between the pipes in an imaginary Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, Cohn didn’t hem and haw.

“I gotta go with the guy that’s got it done. Mike Richter,” Cohn stated. “I love everybody else but you gotta go to a go-to that’s gotten it done. He did it twice (Game 7 wins in the 1994 Eastern Conference Final and 1994 Stanley Cup Final). It was unthinkable, improbable, unbelievable. So, it’s definitely Mike Richter, all day, for me.”

Richter, of course, is the only Rangers goalie to backstop a Stanley Cup championship in the past 84 years. Along the way, he led the Rangers to an epic 2-1 double-overtime win in Game 7 of the conference final against the New Jersey Devils — can anyone say Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!?

He also stood tall in the 3-2 Game 7 win in the Cup Final against the Vancouver Canucks.

So, yes. Been there, done that.

Lundqvist owns a share of the NHL record for most Game 7 playoff wins in NHL history. He, Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy each had six. Each is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Lundqvist had the best Game 7 record of those three legends (6-2-0) and owns the NHL record by winning his first six Game 7s.

Shesterkin is 2-1 in three Game 7s. He helped the Rangers win a pair of Game Sevens in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, in the first round against the Pittsburgh Penguins and second round against the Carolina Hurricanes. In 2023, he and the Rangers dropped Game 7 in the first round to the Devils.

Related: Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup champion recalls his one appearance in epic playoff run

Linda Cohn explains why she’s ‘forgiven’ Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick

Of course, there’s another current Rangers goalie Cohn believes should be considered in this debate. That is Jonathan Quick.

“You could throw in the backup, Jonathan Quick,” she said with a laugh. “I mean technically (he’s never played a Game 7 for the Rangers), but he’s playing out of his mind.”

This is true. Quick is 4-0-0 this season with a microscopic 0.91 goals-against average and surreal .970 save percentage with two shutouts in five games (four starts).

Shesterkin’s backup won four Game 7s when he was the No. 1 with the Los Angeles Kings. That includes three straight in the first three rounds of the 2014 playoffs — against the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks — before Quick and the Kings knocked off Lundqvist and the Rangers in five games during the Stanley Cup Final.

Quick is 4-1 in playoff Game 7s in his career.

“I have obviously forgiven him for beating the Rangers,” Cohn said.

The passionate member of the Blueshirts Faithful sounded like she was having trouble getting past some uneven performances by Shesterkin recently, when he allowed five goals in each of consecutive starts against the Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 7 and 12.

“You can get all the money you want, and you should probably get the $12 million per year, but you can’t have any back-to-back five-goal games, Igor,” Cohn explained. “Because Rangers fans aren’t going to take this kind of stuff. Not when the backup, the guy that’s about to turn 39, is shutting teams out.”

Cohn was not shy about sharing her Rangers opinions throughout the podcast, and also offered up several personal stories, including being the on-air “therapist” after the Rangers lost Game 7 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final in Los Angeles.

There it is. Game 7 again.

Tune in and listen to Jim Cerny and Linda Cohn talk Rangers hockey here OR watch the entire interview on the Forever Blueshirts official YouTube page.

Olczyk and Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla are replacing Mike Gartner and David Branch. Gartner, a teammate of Olczyk’s with the Rangers in the early 1990s, will transition to Chair of the Board in June 2025. 

The Rangers acquired Olczyk from the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 28, 1992, in return for forwards Tie Domi and Kris King. He had 40 points (18 goals, 22 assists) in 103 games for New York before being traded back to the Jets on April 7, 1995, for a fifth-round pick in the 1995 NHL Draft. The Chicago native played 1,031 NHL games for six teams, finishing his career with 794 points (342 goals, 452 assists) – and one Stanley Cup ring.

Olczyk had the fourth of his six NHL hat tricks with the Rangers, scoring three goals in a 5-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 24, 1993. But coach Mike Keenan didn’t like him, and Olczyk spent much of the 1993-94 regular season watching from the press box. The same was true during the run to the Cup; he dressed only once — in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final against the New Jersey Devils, a night better known for Mark Messier’s victory guarantee and third-period hat trick in a 4-2 victory at the Meadowlands.

In “The Wait Is Over,” published in 2014, Olczyk remembered his one playoff appearance in the Cup year.

“That day was pretty surreal,” he said. “I hadn’t played since the trade deadline in March; it had been 2 1/2 months or so. In typical Keenan fashion — we’d had some injuries, guys had been taped up for a period of time in the playoffs. I was standing by the stick rack at the old Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands and Keenan comes up to me and kind of looks at me and says, ‘What was your best year in the NHL scoring goals?’

“I looked at him and I was thinking, ‘Really? You’re asking me that question, like you don’t know that or you don’t have access to a media guide?’ I told him I had scored 42 goals one year in Toronto (in 1987-88) and had five straight 30-goal seasons. I pretty much thought it was an interview or an audition, like I was going in for a job interview.

“He said, ‘You scored 42 goals one year?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I scored 42 goals with Toronto.’ He looks at me, he looks at my sticks, and says, ‘You’re playing tonight. You’re going to play. We need you. The guys trust you, the guys love you. I trust you.’ — he wouldn’t say he loved me, but that was OK. He said, ‘You’re playing tonight.’”

Related: John Vanbiesbrouck believes he could’ve led Rangers to Stanley Cup like Mike Richter

Ed Olczyk recalls his one appearance in 1994 Rangers’ run to Stanley Cup championship

The Rangers entered the night trailing 3-2 in the series, and Olczyk said the pregame atmosphere in the locker room before the game was “pretty tight and tense.”

“That’s the one thing I remember — it was very quiet. We had our guys who would talk — me and ‘Heals’ (goalie Glenn Healy). We had the yappers, the guys who would keep everybody loose, and then Esa Tikkanen would say a few things but no one could understand him because he was speaking seven languages—you really couldn’t understand him. I don’t want to say ‘tight,’ but we were tense. We really were.

“I just remember it was really quiet, no one had said anything for a period of time — I don’t know if it was three minutes or five minutes—and Kevin Lowe just saying, ‘Well Mess, I guess we’ve got to win this one.’ Everybody just kind of broke up into a giggle and ‘Mess’ had that smirk on his face that he likes to have every once in a while. It was one of those situations where this is it, Mess said what he said. We had plenty of confidence.”

Messier backed up his victory guarantee, but the unsung hero that night, according to Olczyk, was goaltender Mike Richter, who kept the Rangers within two goals before the offense woke up late in the second period

“Probably the greatest goaltending performance I’ve ever seen in a playoff game ever was Mike Richter in that game,” Olczyk says. “Mike Richter was incredible in that game. If not for ‘Ricky,’ we don’t win at all. He was absolutely incredible. He gave us a chance to win.

“He made a couple of big saves when it was 2–0. [Alexei] Kovalev scored late in the second to make it 2–1, and then the rest is history.”

Even though he didn’t play much of a role in winning the Cup, the member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2012 remembered 20 years later that Rangers fans hadn’t forgotten him and some of the other lesser lights on the team.

“People appreciated the skill and the way that we played,” he said. “We also could play that hard-nosed [style] where the role play­ers were important; guys like Greg Gilbert, Mike Hudson, Joey Kocur, Brian Noonan, Stephane Matteau, all those guys. People appreciated it, and we could play pretty much any way that you wanted. “I think people were proud of the way we han­dled ourselves both on and off the ice. We had a lot of fun. People knew the pressure we were under, and it still is much appreciated, as it has been over the years.

“It’s really amazing—I’m honored and humbled. There are so many people, all walks of Rangers fans, from the Blueshirts to police officers to firemen to people that work in the Garden. It makes you feel really good. They’ll tell you stories line, ‘My dad never thought he’d see a Cup and he saw it in ’94. I’m glad he was able to be on this earth and have seen a Stanley Cup.’ It just makes you feel really good.”

So, as he watched his friend and former goaltending partner Mike Richter help lead the Blueshirts to their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years, did Vanbiesbrouck believe that the Rangers also would’ve ended their long championship drought if he was still their goalie?

“Yes. Absolutely,” Vanbiesbrouck responded when asked that exact question on the Rink Rap podcast presented by Forever Blueshirts.

The Beezer went on to explain that the Rangers were a “great team” and that’s first and foremost why they won the Cup. But he also believed in his own abilities as an elite successful NHL goalie, too.

“I do believe we would have won,” he continued. “You have to have confidence in yourself in order to do that.”

But how did it feel to see someone else between the pipes when the Rangers finally won the Cup?

“Mike Richter was a great goalie, he’s a good friend, and he deserved it and so did everybody. I was happy for them, genuinely,” Vanbiesbrouck explained.

There’s likely a generation of Rangers fans who wonder why this is even a conversation. Richter won 301 games with the Blueshirts, second most in franchise history, backstopped the Cup championship in 1994 and had his No. 35 retired by the organization and it’s now hanging in the rafters at Madison Square Garden.

So, what then about John Vanbiesbrouck?

WATCH: Exclusive 1-on-1 interview with John Vanbiesbrouck

John Vanbiesbrouck watched Rangers’ 1994 Stanley Cup run with ‘great emotion’

Before there was Richter — and even after he reached the NHL in 1989 — there was Vanbiesbrouck. The Vezina Trophy winner as top goalie in the NHL in 1985-86, Vanbiesbrouck started 38 or more games in each of his nine full seasons with the Rangers, including 44 or more six times. Though he shared the Rangers net with Bob Froese for a bit and later with Richter, he was a star in his own right.

Before “I-Gor! I-Gor” or “Hen-Rik! Hen-Rik!” or “Rich-Ter! Rich-Ter” chants at The Garden, there was “Bee-Zer! Bee-Zer!”

Vanbiesbrouck won 200 games with the Rangers, fifth most in franchise history, and finished his NHL career in 2001-02 with 374 victories. At the time, that was the most ever by a United States-born goalie in the NHL. Ryan Miller eventually passed that total and, just this past season, Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick became the all-time winningest NHL goalie from the U.S.

But the point is, Vanbiesbrouck was darn good. And he teamed with Richter for four seasons to give the Rangers a terrific 1-2 punch in goal. In fact, coach Roger Neilson alternated the pair every other start for the first 76 games of the 1991-92 season, winning the Presidents’ Trophy along the way.

Related: John Vanbiesbrouck shares what makes Rangers prospect Gabe Perreault so special

However, after the failed 1992-93 season, which included Neilson being fired, the Rangers were faced with a decision in goal, especially with an expansion draft on the horizon that summer to stock the rosters for the Panthers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

“Of course they had to make a choice,” Vanbiesbrouck noted.

The Rangers traded Beezer’s rights to the Vancouver Canucks for defenseman Doug Lidster and the goalie was claimed by the Panthers in the expansion draft. Richter remained in New York until concussion issues forced him to retire after the 2002-03 season.

“Was i disgruntled at the time? No, I looked at it as a new opportunity,” Vanbiesbrouck recalled. “I was happy for my opportunity that they weren’t getting, to start a franchise that now, when you look back on it, has really grown the sport in the state of Florida. The last five Stanley Cups have been played in the state of Florida. We have players coming from the state of Florida like never before. So, you feel like you may have contributed something.”

Vanbiesbrouck was a Vezina Trophy finalist in 1993-94 with the Panthers when the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy. Then in the postseason, he was a spectator, watching his former team’s memorable run to the championship.

“Boy, did I look at that and watch those games with great emotion and maybe even shed a tear or two … it wasn’t jealousy, it was kind of more towards happiness that they got it done because it’s so hard to do,” Vanbiesbrouck explained.

Beezer led the Panthers on a memorable postseason run just two years later, stunning everyone with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, where they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche. Then in the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Vanbiesboruck’s Panthers lost in five games in the first round to Richter’s Rangers.

“[Wayne] Gretzky lit me up, [Esa] Tikkanen scored a couple of overtime goals,” Vanbiesbrouck said with a laugh.

As for the goalies, Vanbiesbrouck and Richter became teammates again, and forever, when each was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

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“Not once did you feel any jealousy in that room,” Stephane Matteau said recently. “There was no pointing fingers when times got tough. … It was a special group of players.”

At the heart was Mark Messier’s inclusive leadership style, and lead-by-example accountability. And it sure helped that his messages were supported and shared by respected veterans Kevin Lowe, Craig MacTavish, Esa Tikkanen and others.

It simply was a special group of players Neil Smith, and Mike Keenan, brought together to ultimately win the first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years.

“Everyone was important,” Mike Richter explained. “Sure, you had ‘Mess’ and ‘Leetchie’ (Brian Leetch), guys like that. Great players. But you’d go to practice, and there’d be ‘Eddie O’ leading the stretch every day and at the end leading the ‘Heave Ho!’ chant. Glenn Healy joking with everybody. Mike Hartman. Everybody played an important role, whether they were in the lineup or not.

“It was so much fun to go to work every day. The laughs. Everyone was a target, but in a fun way. Everyone was included.”

Related: Inside the meeting that saved Rangers 1994 Cup season

Rangers players stuck together to win 1994 Stanley Cup championship

Things weren’t nearly as copasetic with Smith and Keenan though. The Rangers general manager and his hand-picked coach were at odds throughout their one-year tenure together.

“When people ask me when did things turn bad between them, I always say ‘as soon as they got back from their honeymoon in Hawaii,'” former Madison Square Garden president Bob Gutkowski told Forever Blueshirts.

“They hated each other.”

Worse, they barely communicated and actually had stopped speaking to each other for a long stretch heading into the 1994 NHL trade deadline. Gutkowski explained to Forever Blueshirts how he ordered his two prideful employees to a meeting two days before the deadline to break the ice after Keenan told the president at that the Rangers weren’t good enough to win the championship.

The rest, of course, is history. At Keenan’s behest, Smith swung several massive trades ahead of the deadline that made the Rangers a much harder team to play against, and eventually a Stanley Cup champion.

Gutkowski also explained how he had a sit down with Keenan after Messier told him that the coach was losing the team following his bizarre actions and “explanations” during and after the ugly Game 4 loss to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Final.

Despite fractures with the GM and coach, and coach and players, Messier stepped forward to say something needed to be done, all the while helping hold the team together.

“You just can’t fully understand how much pressure Messier was under,” ESPN’s Jeremy Schapp recently told Forever Blueshirts.

But the players stuck together, always.

“No one was blaming anyone (in the difficult times). We just tried to help each other find answers,” Matteau explained.

That they did.

From Messier’s “Guarantee,” to Lowe’s powerful speech after the Devils tied Game 7 of the conference final that forced overtime, to Matteau’s double OT series winner that same night to Richter’s save on Pavel Bure’s penalty shot in the Stanley Cup Final to Adam Graves screaming “1940!” after the final buzzer in Game 7 of the Final against the Vancouver Canucks.

Despite the chaos and simply wicked pressure that surrounded them, the players on the 1993-94 Rangers turned inward always to rely on each other and be there for one another.

Without that, we wouldn’t be wishing them a Happy 30th Anniversary today.

The Rangers trail the Florida Panthers 3-2 in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Final, meaning that Game 6 on Saturday is their first must-win of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Win or their magical, record-setting season is over.

Thirty years ago, those Rangers were in the same boat. They had lost Game 5 of the conference final at home and were facing a bitter end to a special season, at the hands of the New Jersey Devils in a punishing physical series, that had already featured two overtime games.

You know the rest. Mark Messier guaranteed a Game 6 win on the road at The Meadowlands and then delivered a third-period hat trick to force Game 7, which the Rangers won in double overtime on Stephane Matteau’s legendary goal. Seven hard-fought games later, the Rangers were Stanley Cup champions after outlasting the Vancouver Canucks.

So, sure, that’s the template these Rangers must try and follow. Well, maybe not the guarantee. But certainly the clutch performances from their best players. Igor Shesterkin, brilliant so far against the Panthers, must channel his inner Mike Richter. Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad must replicate Alexei Kovalev and Messier. Adam Fox must do his best Brian Leetch impression.

As they’ve done so often this season, the Rangers must simply find a way. It’s in them to win Game 6 on Saturday despite the 3-2 loss in Game 5 on Thursday, just look at the 34 comeback wins this season.

But there is a “huge difference” between these teams, Matteau pointed out to Forever Blueshirts last week.

Related: Rangers power play drying up when needed most in playoffs

Rangers trying to follow lead of 1994 Stanley Cup champions to rally against Panthers

Mike Richter, Stephane Matteau, Adam Graves. — Photo: Jim Cerny

“That team has so many leaders, so many guys that had won before,” Matteau explained.

Then he reeled off the names. Messier. Kevin Lowe. Esa Tikkanen. Craig MacTavish.

That’s 17 Stanley Cup rings among those four players and that’s before they each added one with the Rangers in 1994.

But that’s not all. There was also Glenn Anderson, Greg Gilbert, Jeff Beukeboom and Adam Graves. They combined for 11 championships prior to 1994.

“You’ll never have another group of leaders like that on one team again,” Richter said.

These Rangers have five rings — three for Jonathan Quick and two for Barclay Goodrow. That’s not nothing.

But it’s unfair to compare these two teams despite the similar circumstances they face at this exact juncture of the playoffs. That 1994 team was under far more pressure to win than the current team. Trust me, if you weren’t there in 1994, 54 years since the last Cup, you just don’t know the burden that great team carried. They needed every last leader, every last champion, to get past the Devils, the Canucks and it’s own history.

Now 30 years without a championship certainly weighs on the current team. But it’s just not the same. Just like this is a different team from that one. Just because its the Rangers, doesn’t mean it’s a direct comparison.

But that said, these Rangers can still write their own winning story. They’re more than capable of staring down adversity and gutting out two wins in three days to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 10 years.

It starts with simply playing better in every facet of the game and not letting Florida dictate how the game will be played. Throw in some special-teams magic, continued brilliance from Shesterkin and maybe a good bounce or two. They have a chance. The difference is razor thin in this series, so far, no matter how much the Panthers’ relentless play has ruled the day.

But these are not the 1994 New York Rangers. This is the 2024 New York Rangers. And we’ll soon see how they measure up.