1996–97 New York Rangers season

1996–97 New York Rangers
1996–97 New York Rangers
Division	4th Atlantic
Conference	5th Eastern
1996–97 record	38–34–10
Home record	21–14–6
Road record	17–20–4
Goals for	258
Goals against	231
Team information
General manager	Neil Smith
Coach	Colin Campbell
Captain	Mark Messier
Alternate captains	Brian Leetch; Adam Graves
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Average attendance	18,200 (100%)
Team leaders
Goals	Mark Messier (36)
Assists	Wayne Gretzky (72)
Points	Wayne Gretzky (97)
Penalty minutes	Darren Langdon (195)
Wins	Mike Richter (33)
Goals against average	Glenn Healy (2.61)
	← 1995–96 1997–98 →

The 1996–97 New York Rangers season was the Rangers' 71st season. The highlight of the season was that it was Wayne Gretzky's first season in New York.

The Rangers qualified for the playoffs as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, and advanced all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they were defeated by the Philadelphia Flyers. This marked the last playoff appearance for the Rangers until the 2005–06 season.

Regular season[]

The Rangers had the fewest power-play opportunities during the regular season (287), but the best power-play percentage (21.95%).^[1]

Final standings[]

Atlantic Division
No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	1	New Jersey Devils	82	45	23	14	231	182	104
2	3	Philadelphia Flyers	82	45	24	13	274	217	103
3	4	Florida Panthers	82	35	28	19	221	201	89
4	5	New York Rangers	82	38	34	10	258	231	86
5	9	Washington Capitals	82	33	40	9	214	231	75
6	11	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	32	40	10	217	247	74
7	12	New York Islanders	82	29	41	12	240	250	70

Eastern Conference^[2]
R		Div	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
1	New Jersey Devils	ATL	82	45	23	14	231	182	104
2	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	40	30	12	237	208	92
3	Philadelphia Flyers	ATL	82	45	24	13	274	217	103
4	Florida Panthers	ATL	82	35	28	19	221	201	89
5	New York Rangers	ATL	82	38	34	10	258	231	86
6	Pittsburgh Penguins	NE	82	38	36	8	285	280	84
7	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	31	36	15	226	234	77
8	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	31	36	15	249	276	77

9	Washington Capitals	ATL	82	33	40	9	214	231	75
10	Hartford Whalers	NE	82	32	39	11	226	256	75
11	Tampa Bay Lightning	ATL	82	32	40	10	217	247	74
12	New York Islanders	ATL	82	29	41	12	240	250	70
13	Boston Bruins	NE	82	26	47	9	234	300	61

Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs

Schedule and results[]

1996-97 Game Log

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

Game	October	Opponent	Score	Record
1	5	@ Boston Bruins	4 - 4 OT	0-0-1
2	6	Florida Panthers	5 - 2	0-1-1
3	8	@ Florida Panthers	1 - 1 OT	0-1-2
4	10	Dallas Stars	2 - 1	0-2-2
5	12	@ Montreal Canadiens	5 - 2	0-3-2
6	14	Calgary Flames	5 - 4	1-3-2
7	16	Pittsburgh Penguins	8 - 1	2-3-2
8	18	St. Louis Blues	2 - 1	3-3-2
9	20	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	5 - 2	3-4-2
10	23	Washington Capitals	3 - 2	3-5-2
11	25	@ Florida Panthers	6 - 4	3-6-2
12	27	Buffalo Sabres	6 - 4	4-6-2
13	29	Florida Panthers	1 - 1 OT	4-6-3
14	30	@ New Jersey Devils	6 - 1	5-6-3

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

Game	November	Opponent	Score	Record
15	2	@ Boston Bruins	5 - 2	6-6-3
16	4	Tampa Bay Lightning	5 - 3	6-7-3
17	6	@ New York Islanders	1 - 1 OT	6-7-4
18	9	@ Washington Capitals	3 - 2	6-8-4
19	11	Vancouver Canucks	3 - 2	6-9-4
20	13	Philadelphia Flyers	2 - 1	6-10-4
21	16	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	8 - 3	7-10-4
22	18	@ Calgary Flames	5 - 3	7-11-4
23	21	@ Edmonton Oilers	3 - 2	7-12-4
24	23	@ Vancouver Canucks	5 - 3	7-13-4
25	26	@ Phoenix Coyotes	3 - 1	8-13-4
26	27	@ Colorado Avalanche	5 - 2	9-13-4

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

Game	December	Opponent	Score	Record
27	1	Montreal Canadiens	6 - 2	10-13-4
28	4	Philadelphia Flyers	1 - 1 OT	10-13-5
29	6	Toronto Maple Leafs	6 - 5	11-13-5
30	7	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	4 - 0	12-13-5
31	9	Phoenix Coyotes	5 - 2	13-13-5
32	11	New York Islanders	5 - 3	13-14-5
33	13	@ Buffalo Sabres	3 - 0	14-14-5
34	16	Hartford Whalers	5 - 2	15-14-5
35	18	Los Angeles Kings	4 - 0	16-14-5
36	21	@ Montreal Canadiens	3 - 2 OT	17-14-5
37	22	Florida Panthers	7 - 3	18-14-5
38	26	@ Ottawa Senators	5 - 2	18-15-5
39	27	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	3 - 2	19-15-5
40	30	@ Dallas Stars	3 - 2	20-15-5
41	31	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	4 - 2	20-16-5

January: 5-4-2 (Home: 3-3-2; Road: 2-1-0)

Game	January	Opponent	Score	Record
42	2	New York Islanders	4 - 3	21-16-5
43	4	Ottawa Senators	6 - 4	22-16-5
44	6	Colorado Avalanche	2 - 2 OT	22-16-6
45	8	Tampa Bay Lightning	4 - 3	22-17-6
46	9	@ Washington Capitals	2 - 0	22-18-6
47	12	New Jersey Devils	3 - 0	23-18-6
48	13	New York Islanders	4 - 2	23-19-6
49	21	Edmonton Oilers	4 - 4 OT	23-19-7
50	22	@ Washington Capitals	5 - 3	24-19-7
51	25	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	7 - 4	25-19-7
52	27	Chicago Blackhawks	2 - 1	25-20-7

February: 3-6-2 (Home: 1-1-1; Road: 2-5-1)

Game	February	Opponent	Score	Record
53	1	@ Philadelphia Flyers	4 - 2	26-20-7
54	2	Boston Bruins	3 - 2	26-21-7
55	5	Hartford Whalers	5 - 2	27-21-7
56	8	@ New York Islanders	5 - 2	28-21-7
57	9	@ Florida Panthers	4 - 3	28-22-7
58	13	@ St. Louis Blues	4 - 1	28-23-7
59	15	@ Chicago Blackhawks	2 - 0	28-24-7
60	17	New Jersey Devils	2 - 2 OT	28-24-8
61	19	@ New Jersey Devils	1 - 1 OT	28-24-9
62	21	@ Hartford Whalers	7 - 2	28-25-9
63	23	@ Philadelphia Flyers	2 - 1	28-26-9

March: 7-6-0 (Home: 4-2-0; Road: 3-4-0)

Game	March	Opponent	Score	Record
64	1	@ Detroit Red Wings	3 - 0	28-27-9
65	3	San Jose Sharks	5 - 4 OT	29-27-9
66	6	@ Los Angeles Kings	6 - 2	30-27-9
67	7	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	5 - 2	30-28-9
68	9	@ San Jose Sharks	2 - 1	31-28-9
69	12	Washington Capitals	3 - 2	32-28-9
70	14	@ Ottawa Senators	4 - 3 OT	33-28-9
71	17	Ottawa Senators	4 - 3	33-29-9
72	19	Montreal Canadiens	5 - 4	33-30-9
73	21	Detroit Red Wings	3 - 1	34-30-9
74	24	Pittsburgh Penguins	3 - 0	35-30-9
75	27	@ New Jersey Devils	4 - 0	35-31-9
76	29	@ Hartford Whalers	2 - 1	35-32-9

April: 3-2-1 (Home: 2-1-1; Road: 1-1-0)

Game	April	Opponent	Score	Record
77	1	Buffalo Sabres	1 - 1 OT	35-32-10
78	3	Boston Bruins	5 - 4	36-32-10
79	4	@ Buffalo Sabres	5 - 1	36-33-10
80	7	Philadelphia Flyers	3 - 2	37-33-10
81	10	@ Philadelphia Flyers	6 - 3	38-33-10
82	11	Tampa Bay Lightning	4 - 2	38-34-10

Playoffs[]

Key: Win Loss

1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Conference Quarter-finals: vs. (4) Florida Panthers - New York Rangers win series 4-1
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	April 17	New York Rangers	0 - 3	Florida Panthers		Florida leads series 1-0
2	April 20	New York Rangers	3 - 0	Florida Panthers		Series tied 1-1
3	April 22	Florida Panthers	3 - 4	New York Rangers	OT	New York Rangers lead series 2-1
4	April 23	Florida Panthers	2 - 3	New York Rangers		New York Rangers lead series 3-1
5	April 25	New York Rangers	3 - 2	Florida Panthers	OT	New York Rangers win series 4-1

Conference Semi-finals: vs. (1) New Jersey Devils - New York Rangers win series 4-1
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	May 2	New York Rangers	0 - 2	New Jersey Devils		New Jersey leads series 1-0
2	May 4	New York Rangers	2 - 0	New Jersey Devils		Series tied 1-1
3	May 6	New Jersey Devils	2 - 3	New York Rangers		New York Rangers lead series 2-1
4	May 8	New Jersey Devils	0 - 3	New York Rangers		New York Rangers lead series 3-1
5	May 11	New York Rangers	2 - 1	New Jersey Devils	OT	New York Rangers win series 4-1

Conference Finals: vs. (3) Philadelphia Flyers - Philadelphia wins series 4-1
#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	May 16	New York Rangers	1 - 3	Philadelphia Flyers		Philadelphia leads series 1-0
2	May 18	New York Rangers	5 - 4	Philadelphia Flyers		Series tied 1-1
3	May 20	Philadelphia Flyers	6 - 3	New York Rangers		Philadelphia leads series 2-1
4	May 23	Philadelphia Flyers	3 - 2	New York Rangers		Philadelphia leads series 3-1
5	May 25	New York Rangers	2 - 4	Philadelphia Flyers		Philadelphia wins series 4-1

Player statistics[]

Skaters

Regular Season
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
Wayne Gretzky	82	25	72	97	12	28
Mark Messier	71	36	48	84	12	88
Brian Leetch	82	20	58	78	31	40
Adam Graves	82	33	28	61	10	66
Niklas Sundstrom	82	24	28	52	23	20
Luc Robitaille	69	24	24	48	16	48
Alexander Karpovtsev	77	9	29	38	1	59
Alexei Kovalev	45	13	22	35	11	42
Bruce Driver	79	5	25	30	8	48
Patrick Flatley	68	10	12	22	6	26
Sergei Nemchinov^‡	63	6	13	19	5	12
Ulf Samuelsson	73	6	11	17	3	138
Brian Noonan^†‡	44	6	9	15	-7	28
Bill Berg	67	8	6	14	2	37
Daniel Goneau	41	10	3	13	-5	10
Jeff Beukeboom	80	3	9	12	22	167
Vladimir Vorobiev	16	5	5	10	4	6
Darren Langdon	60	3	6	9	-1	195
Mike Eastwood^†	27	1	7	8	2	10
Doug Lidster	48	3	4	7	10	24
Russ Courtnall^†	14	2	5	7	-3	2
David Oliver^†	14	2	1	3	3	4
Esa Tikkanen^†	14	1	2	3	0	6
Chris Ferraro	12	1	1	2	1	6
Christian Dube	27	1	1	2	-4	4
Ryan VandenBussche	11	1	0	1	-2	30
Jayson More^‡	14	0	1	1	0	25
Eric Cairns	40	0	1	1	-7	147
Shane Churla	45	0	1	1	-10	106
Jeff Nielsen	2	0	0	0	-1	2
Peter Ferraro	2	0	0	0	0	0
Dallas Eakins^†	3	0	0	0	-1	6
Sylvain Blouin	6	0	0	0	-1	18
Sergio Momesso^‡	9	0	0	0	-2	11

Playoffs
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Wayne Gretzky	15	10	10	20	2
Esa Tikkanen	15	9	3	12	26
Mark Messier	15	3	9	12	6
Luc Robitaille	15	4	7	11	4
Brian Leetch	15	2	8	10	6
Russ Courtnall	15	3	4	7	0
Doug Lidster	15	1	5	6	8
Niklas Sundstrom	9	0	5	5	2
Alexander Karpovtsev	13	1	3	4	20
Mike Eastwood	15	1	2	3	22
Adam Graves	15	2	1	3	12
Ulf Samuelsson	15	0	2	2	30
Jeff Beukeboom	15	0	1	1	34
Bruce Driver	15	0	1	1	2
Dallas Eakins	4	0	0	0	4
Peter Ferraro	2	0	0	0	0
Ken Gernander	9	0	0	0	0
Shane Churla	15	0	0	0	20
Eric Cairns	3	0	0	0	0
Christian Dube	3	0	0	0	0
David Oliver	3	0	0	0	0
Darren Langdon	10	0	0	0	2
Bill Berg	3	0	0	0	2
Patrick Flatley	11	0	0	0	14

Goaltenders

Regular Season
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
Mike Richter	61	3598	33	22	6	161	2.68	1945	.917	4
Glenn Healy	23	59	5	12	4	59	2.61	632	.907	1

Playoffs
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
Mike Richter	15	939	9	6	33	2.11	488	.932	3

^†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.

^[3]

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;

Draft picks[]

New York's picks at the 1996 NHL Entry Draft in St. Louis, Missouri at the Kiel Center.

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	22	Jeff Brown	D	Canada	Sarnia Sting (OHL)
2	48	Daniel Goneau	LW	Canada	Granby Predateurs (QMJHL)
3	76	Dmitri Subbotin	LW	Russia	CSKA Moscow (Russia)
5	131	Colin Pepperall	LW	Canada	Niagara Falls Thunder (OHL)
6	158	Ola Sandberg	D	Sweden	Djurgårdens IF (SEL)
7	185	Jeff Dessner	D	United States	Taft School (Connecticut)
8	211	Ryan McKie	D	Canada	London Knights (OHL)
9	237	Ronnie Sundin	D	Sweden	Frölunda HC (SEL)

Awards and records[]

James Norris Memorial Trophy: Brian Leetch

References[]

Rangers on Hockey Database

^ "1996-97 NHL Summary".
^ "1996-1997 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
^ "1996-97 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-08-01.

[1] "1996-97 NHL Summary".

[2] "1996-1997 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.

[3] "1996-97 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-08-01.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t 1996–97 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 Phoenix St. Louis Toronto
Pacific Division	Anaheim Calgary Colorado Edmonton Los Angeles San Jose Vancouver
See also	Draft Red Wings–Avalanche brawl Legion of Doom Stanley Cup Playoffs Stanley Cup Finals

v t New York Rangers
Founded in 1926 Based in New York City, New York
Franchise	Team General managers Coaches Players Captains Draft picks Seasons Current season
History	History (Original Six) Records Award winners Retired numbers Broadcasters
Personnel	Owner(s) The Madison Square Garden Company (James Dolan, chairman) General manager Chris Drury Head coach Gerard Gallant Team captain Vacant Current roster
Arenas	Madison Square Garden III Madison Square Garden IV
Rivalries	New Jersey Devils New York Islanders Philadelphia Flyers Washington Capitals
Affiliates	AHL Hartford Wolf Pack ECHL Jacksonville Icemen
Media	TV MSG Network Radio WEPN-FM
Culture and lore	Curse of 1940 "It's a power play goal!" GAG line Eric Lindros trade Messier's Guarantee "Matteau, Matteau, Matteau" George Kalinsky Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award Hockey Night Live! "The Face Painter" (Seinfeld episode) Mystery, Alaska 1991 Las Vegas outdoor game 2011 NHL Premiere 2012 NHL Winter Classic 2014 NHL Stadium Series 2018 NHL Winter Classic
Category Commons

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