1995–96 New York Rangers season

1995–96 New York Rangers
1995–96 New York Rangers
Division	2nd Atlantic
Conference	3rd Eastern
1995–96 record	41–27–14
Goals for	272
Goals against	237
Team information
General manager	Neil Smith
Coach	Colin Campbell
Captain	Mark Messier
Alternate captains	Adam Graves; Brian Leetch
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Mark Messier (47)
Assists	Brian Leetch (70)
Points	Mark Messier (99)
Penalty minutes	Jeff Beukeboom (220)
Wins	Mike Richter (24)
Goals against average	Jamie Ram (0.00)
	← 1994–95 1996–97 →

The 1995–96 New York Rangers season was the 70th season for the team in the National Hockey League.^[1] During the regular season, the Rangers posted a 41–27–14 record, which placed them second in the Atlantic Division and gave them a berth in the 1996 Stanley Cup playoffs.^[2] In the first round of the playoffs, New York defeated the Montreal Canadiens in six games to advance to the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, where the team lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games.^[2]

Regular season[]

The Rangers were shorthanded a league-high 495 times during the regular season, and tied the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning for fewest short-handed goals scored (6).^[3]

Final standings[]

Atlantic Division
No.		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	Philadelphia Flyers	82	45	24	13	282	208	103
2	New York Rangers	82	41	27	14	272	237	96
3	Florida Panthers	82	41	31	10	254	234	92
4	Washington Capitals	82	39	32	11	234	204	89
5	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	38	32	12	238	248	88
6	New Jersey Devils	82	37	33	12	215	202	86
7	New York Islanders	82	22	50	10	229	315	54

Eastern Conference^[4]
R		Div	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	Philadelphia Flyers	ATL	82	45	24	13	282	208	103
2	Pittsburgh Penguins	NE	82	49	29	4	362	284	102
3	New York Rangers	ATL	82	41	27	14	272	237	96
4	Florida Panthers	ATL	82	41	31	10	254	234	92
5	Boston Bruins	NE	82	40	31	11	282	269	91
6	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	40	32	10	265	248	90
7	Washington Capitals	ATL	82	39	32	11	234	204	89
8	Tampa Bay Lightning	ATL	82	38	32	12	238	248	88

9	New Jersey Devils	ATL	82	37	33	12	215	202	86
10	Hartford Whalers	NE	82	34	39	9	237	259	77
11	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	33	42	7	247	262	73
12	New York Islanders	ATL	82	22	50	10	229	315	54
13	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	18	59	5	191	291	41

Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs

Schedule and results[]

1995-96 Game Log

October: 7-3-1 (Home: 3-2-0; Road: 4-1-1)

Game	October	Opponent	Score	Record
1	7	@ Hartford Whalers	2 - 0	0-1-0
2	11	Winnipeg Jets	6 - 4	1-1-0
3	14	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	2 - 0	2-1-0
4	16	Hartford Whalers	7 - 5	2-2-0
5	17	@ New York Islanders	5 - 1	3-2-0
6	20	@ Buffalo Sabres	3 - 1	4-2-0
7	22	Ottawa Senators	4 - 2	4-3-0
8	24	Vancouver Canucks	5 - 2	5-3-0
9	26	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	4 - 4 OT	5-3-1
10	29	Toronto Maple Leafs	3 - 2	6-3-1
11	31	@ San Jose Sharks	5 - 3	7-3-1

November: 7-5-2 (Home: 5-0-1; Road: 2-5-1)

Game	November	Opponent	Score	Record
12	2	@ Los Angeles Kings	5 - 3	7-4-1
13	3	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	7 - 4	7-5-1
14	6	Calgary Flames	4 - 2	8-5-1
15	8	Tampa Bay Lightning	5 - 4	9-5-1
16	10	New York Islanders	4 - 1	10-5-1
17	11	@ Hartford Whalers	4 - 1	11-5-1
18	14	@ St. Louis Blues	1 - 1 OT	11-5-2
19	16	@ Chicago Blackhawks	3 - 1	11-6-2
20	17	@ Winnipeg Jets	6 - 3	11-7-2
21	21	Pittsburgh Penguins	9 - 4	12-7-2
22	22	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	4 - 3	13-7-2
23	25	@ Detroit Red Wings	2 - 0	13-8-2
24	27	New Jersey Devils	1 - 1 OT	13-8-3
25	29	Buffalo Sabres	5 - 3	14-8-3

December: 11-3-3 (Home: 7-0-2; Road: 4-3-1)

Game	December	Opponent	Score	Record
26	1	Colorado Avalanche	5 - 3	15-8-3
27	2	@ Ottawa Senators	4 - 2	16-8-3
28	4	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	5 - 1	17-8-3
29	6	Chicago Blackhawks	5 - 5 OT	17-8-4
30	8	Detroit Red Wings	2 - 1 OT	18-8-4
31	9	@ Montreal Canadiens	2 - 2 OT	18-8-5
32	11	Dallas Stars	3 - 2	19-8-5
33	13	Boston Bruins	4 - 2	20-8-5
34	15	@ Buffalo Sabres	5 - 4	20-9-5
35	16	@ Washington Capitals	3 - 2	20-10-5
36	18	Washington Capitals	3 - 0	21-10-5
37	21	@ Philadelphia Flyers	2 - 1	22-10-5
38	22	Hartford Whalers	3 - 3 OT	22-10-6
39	26	Ottawa Senators	6 - 4	23-10-6
40	28	@ Vancouver Canucks	3 - 2	24-10-6
41	30	@ Edmonton Oilers	8 - 3	25-10-6
42	31	@ Calgary Flames	3 - 1	25-11-6

January: 5-0-4 (Home: 3-0-2; Road: 2-0-2)

Game	January	Opponent	Score	Record
43	3	Montreal Canadiens	7 - 4	26-11-6
44	5	@ Washington Capitals	4 - 4 OT	26-11-7
45	10	San Jose Sharks	7 - 4	27-11-7
46	13	@ Philadelphia Flyers	4 - 0	28-11-7
47	14	St. Louis Blues	3 - 3 OT	28-11-8
48	22	Los Angeles Kings	3 - 1	29-11-8
49	24	Philadelphia Flyers	4 - 4 OT	29-11-9
50	27	@ Boston Bruins	5 - 3	30-11-9
51	31	@ Dallas Stars	1 - 1 OT	30-11-10

February: 5-6-1 (Home: 1-3-1; Road: 4-3-0)

Game	February	Opponent	Score	Record
52	3	@ Colorado Avalanche	7 - 1	30-12-10
53	6	@ New York Islanders	4 - 2	31-12-10
54	8	New York Islanders	6 - 2	32-12-10
55	10	@ New Jersey Devils	3 - 0	32-13-10
56	11	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	6 - 2	33-13-10
57	15	Montreal Canadiens	2 - 2 OT	33-13-11
58	17	@ Ottawa Senators	2 - 1 OT	34-13-11
59	18	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	4 - 3 OT	34-14-11
60	22	New York Islanders	5 - 3	34-15-11
61	24	@ Florida Panthers	4 - 0	35-15-11
62	27	Washington Capitals	5 - 3	35-16-11
63	28	Boston Bruins	3 - 1	35-17-11

March: 4-4-3 (Home: 1-2-3; Road: 3-2-0)

Game	March	Opponent	Score	Record
64	1	Buffalo Sabres	3 - 3 OT	35-17-12
65	4	New Jersey Devils	2 - 2 OT	35-17-13
66	7	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	5 - 2	35-18-13
67	9	@ Washington Capitals	6 - 1	36-18-13
68	13	Florida Panthers	3 - 3 OT	36-18-14
69	16	@ Montreal Canadiens	4 - 2	36-19-14
70	19	Edmonton Oilers	4 - 1	36-20-14
71	23	@ Boston Bruins	5 - 4	37-20-14
72	24	Pittsburgh Penguins	8 - 2	37-21-14
73	27	Florida Panthers	3 - 0	38-21-14
74	31	@ New York Islanders	4 - 1	39-21-14

April: 2-6-0 (Home: 2-3-0; Road: 0-3-0)

Game	April	Opponent	Score	Record
75	2	New Jersey Devils	3 - 1	40-21-14
76	4	@ Philadelphia Flyers	4 - 1	40-22-14
77	5	Philadelphia Flyers	3 - 1	41-22-14
78	7	@ New Jersey Devils	4 - 2	41-23-14
79	8	Florida Panthers	5 - 3	41-24-14
80	10	Washington Capitals	4 - 1	41-25-14
81	12	Tampa Bay Lightning	3 - 2	41-26-14
82	14	@ Florida Panthers	5 - 1	41-27-14

Playoffs[]

Key: Win Loss

1996 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Conference Quarter-finals: vs. (6) Montreal Canadiens - New York Rangers win series 4-2
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	April 16	Montreal Canadiens	3 - 2	New York Rangers	OT	Montreal leads series 1-0
2	April 18	Montreal Canadiens	5 - 3	New York Rangers		Montreal leads series 2-0
3	April 21	New York Rangers	2 - 1	Montreal Canadiens		Montreal leads series 2-1
4	April 23	New York Rangers	4 - 3	Montreal Canadiens		Series tied 2-2
5	April 26	Montreal Canadiens	2 - 3	New York Rangers		New York Rangers lead series 3-2
6	April 28	New York Rangers	5 - 3	Montreal Canadiens		New York Rangers win series 4-2

Conference Semi-finals: vs. (2) Pittsburgh Penguins - Pittsburgh wins series 4-1
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	May 3	New York Rangers	1 - 4	Pittsburgh Penguins		Pittsburgh leads series 1-0
2	May 5	New York Rangers	6 - 3	Pittsburgh Penguins		Series tied 1-1
3	May 7	Pittsburgh Penguins	3 - 2	New York Rangers		Pittsburgh leads series 2-1
4	May 9	Pittsburgh Penguins	4 - 1	New York Rangers		Pittsburgh leads series 3-1
5	May 11	New York Rangers	3 - 7	Pittsburgh Penguins		Pittsburgh wins series 4-1

Player statistics[]

Skaters

Regular Season
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
Mark Messier	74	47	52	99	29	122
Brian Leetch	82	15	70	85	12	30
Pat Verbeek	69	41	41	82	29	129
Luc Robitaille	77	23	46	69	13	80
Alexei Kovalev	81	24	34	58	5	98
Adam Graves	82	22	36	58	18	100
Ray Ferraro^‡	65	25	29	54	13	82
Bruce Driver	66	3	34	37	2	42
Sergei Nemchinov	78	17	15	32	9	38
Niklas Sundstrom	82	9	12	21	2	14
Ulf Samuelsson	74	1	18	19	9	122
Alexander Karpovtsev	40	2	16	18	12	26
Doug Lidster	59	5	9	14	11	50
Jeff Beukeboom	82	3	11	14	19	220
Darren Langdon	64	7	4	11	2	175
Wayne Presley^‡	61	4	6	10	7	71
Sergio Momesso^†	19	4	4	8	-2	30
Nick Kypreos^‡	42	3	4	7	1	77
Stephane Matteau^‡	32	4	2	6	-4	22
Kevin Lowe	53	1	5	6	20	76
Ken Gernander	10	2	3	5	-3	4
Jari Kurri^†	14	1	4	5	-4	2
Daniel Lacroix	25	2	2	4	-1	30
Bill Berg^†	18	2	1	3	0	8
Mattias Norstrom^‡	25	2	1	3	5	22
Ian Laperriere^†‡	28	1	2	3	-5	53
Joe Kocur^‡	38	1	2	3	-4	49
Marty McSorley^†	9	0	2	2	-6	21
Chris Ferraro	2	1	0	1	-3	0
Barry Richter	4	0	1	1	2	0
Peter Ferraro	5	0	1	1	-5	0
Steve Larouche^‡	1	0	0	0	0	0
Nathan LaFayette^‡	5	0	0	0	-1	2
Shane Churla^†	10	0	0	0	-3	26

Playoffs
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Mark Messier	11	4	7	11	16
Pat Verbeek	11	3	6	9	12
Jari Kurri	11	3	5	8	2
Adam Graves	10	7	1	8	4
Niklas Sundstrom	11	4	3	7	4
Bruce Driver	11	0	7	7	4
Alexei Kovalev	11	3	4	7	14
Brian Leetch	11	1	6	7	4
Ulf Samuelsson	11	1	5	6	16
Luc Robitaille	11	1	5	6	8
Shane Churla	11	2	2	4	14
Kevin Lowe	10	0	4	4	4
Sergio Momesso	11	3	1	4	14
Jeff Beukeboom	11	0	3	3	6
Bill Berg	10	1	0	1	0
Doug Lidster	7	1	0	1	6
Alexander Karpovtsev	6	0	1	1	4
Sergei Nemchinov	6	0	1	1	2
Marty McSorley	4	0	0	0	0
Ken Gernander	6	0	0	0	0
Darren Langdon	2	0	0	0	0

Goaltenders

Regular Season
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
Mike Richter	41	2396	24	13	3	107	2.68	1221	.912	3
Glenn Healy	44	2564	17	14	11	124	2.90	1237	.900	2
Jamie Ram	1	27	0	0	0	0	0.00	9	1.000	0

Playoffs
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
Mike Richter	11	661	5	6	36	3.27	308	.883	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Rangers. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.
^‡Traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with Rangers only.

^[5]

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Transactions[]

July 31, 1995 – Doug Lidster was traded by the St. Louis Blues to the New York Rangers in exchange for Jay Wells.^[6]

Draft picks[]

New York's picks at the 1995 NHL Entry Draft in Edmonton, Alberta, at the Edmonton Coliseum.^[7]^[8]

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
2	39	Christian Dube	RW	Canada	Sherbrooke Faucons (QMJHL)
3	65		D	Canada	Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
4	91	Marc Savard	C	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
5	110	Alexei Vasiliev	D	Russia	Yaroslavl Torpedo (Russia)
5	117	Dale Purinton	D	United States	Tacoma Rockets (WHL)
6	143	Peter Slamiar	RW	Slovakia	Zvolen Jrs. (Slovak Extraliga)
7	169	Jeff Heil	G	United States	University of Wisconsin–River Falls (NCAA)
8	195	Ilya Gorokhov	D	Russia	Yaroslavl Torpedo (Russia)
9	221	Bob Maudie	C	Canada	Kamloops Blazers (WHL)

References[]

^ "New York Rangers". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
^ ^a ^b "1995–96 New York Rangers Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
^ "1995–96 NHL Season Summary". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
^ "1995–1996 Conference Standings". National Hockey League. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
^ "1995-96 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
^ Yannis, Alex (August 1, 1995). "Hockey; Rangers Regain Lidster by Dealing Wells". The New York Times. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
^ "1995 NHL Entry Draft". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
^ "NHL Draft History". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on January 28, 2001. Retrieved June 16, 2017.

[1] "New York Rangers". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved January 23, 2019.

[hr-2] "1995–96 New York Rangers Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved August 7, 2010.

[3] "1995–96 NHL Season Summary". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved January 21, 2011.

[4] "1995–1996 Conference Standings". National Hockey League. Retrieved July 3, 2014.

[5] "1995-96 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-08-01.

[6] Yannis, Alex (August 1, 1995). "Hockey; Rangers Regain Lidster by Dealing Wells". The New York Times. Retrieved October 16, 2009.

[7] "1995 NHL Entry Draft". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved July 7, 2012.

[8] "NHL Draft History". National Hockey League. Archived from the original on January 28, 2001. Retrieved June 16, 2017.

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v t New York Rangers seasons
1920s	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t 1995–96 NHL season
Northeast Division	Boston Buffalo Hartford Montreal Ottawa Pittsburgh
Atlantic Division	Florida New Jersey NY Islanders NY Rangers Philadelphia Tampa Bay Washington
Central Division	Chicago Dallas Detroit St. Louis Toronto Winnipeg
Pacific Division	Anaheim Calgary Colorado Edmonton Los Angeles San Jose Vancouver
See also	Draft Rat trick Legion of Doom Stanley Cup Playoffs Stanley Cup Finals