# 1986–87 New York Rangers season

The 1986–87 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 61st season. During the regular season, the Rangers finished in fourth place in the Patrick Division with 76 points, and qualified for the NHL playoffs. New York was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Philadelphia Flyers.

## Regular season
### Final standings

Patrick Division :
| | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 80 | 46 | 26 | 8 | 310 | 245 | 100 |
| Washington Capitals | 80 | 38 | 32 | 10 | 285 | 278 | 86 |
| New York Islanders | 80 | 35 | 33 | 12 | 279 | 281 | 82 |
| New York Rangers | 80 | 34 | 38 | 8 | 307 | 323 | 76 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 80 | 30 | 38 | 12 | 297 | 290 | 72 |
| New Jersey Devils | 80 | 29 | 45 | 6 | 293 | 368 | 64 |
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

### Record vs. opponents

Patrick Division record vs. opponents :
Vs. Wales Conference
Vs. Patrick Division
1986–87 NHL records
Team
NJD
NYI
NYR
PHI
PIT
WSH
Total
New Jersey
—2–54–32–4–14–31–613–21–1
N.Y. Islanders
5–2—3–3–13–45–0–22–3–218–12–2
N.Y. Rangers
3–43–3–1—4–33–2–24–317–15–3
Philadelphia
4–2–14–33–4—4–1–25–1–120–11–4
Pittsburgh
3–40–5–22–3–21–4–2—4–310–19–6
Washington
6–13–2–23–41–5–13–4—16–16–3
Vs. Adams Division
1986–87 NHL records
Team
BOS
BUF
HFD
MTL
QUE
Total
New Jersey
1–1–11–21–1–11–20–1–24–7–4
N.Y. Islanders
0–2–11–1–11–21–1–12–15–7–3
N.Y. Rangers
2–12–10–30–2–12–16–8–1
Philadelphia
2–12–11–22–0–12–0–19–4–2
Pittsburgh
1–22–0–10–31–1–13–07–6–2
Washington
1–1–11–21–23–00–2–16–7–2
Vs. Campbell Conference
Vs. Norris Division
1986–87 NHL records
Team
CHI
DET
MIN
STL
TOR
Total
New Jersey
1–22–11–22–11–27–8–0
N.Y. Islanders
1–22–13–01–1–12–19–5–1
N.Y. Rangers
1–1–11–21–1–11–21–1–15–7–3
Philadelphia
2–0–12–11–23–01–1–19–4–2
Pittsburgh
2–11–23–01–0–21–28–5–2
Washington
1–1–12–0–12–0–12–0–12–19–2–4
Vs. Smythe Division
1986–87 NHL records
Team
CGY
EDM
LAK
VAN
WIN
Total
New Jersey
1–21–21–22–0–10–35–9–1
N.Y. Islanders
0–2–10–2–11–21–21–1–13–9–2
N.Y. Rangers
1–20–32–0–12–11–26–8–1
Philadelphia
1–22–11–22–12–18–7–0
Pittsburgh
1–21–21–21–0–21–25–8–2
Washington
1–22–10–33–01–1–17–7–1 :

## Schedule and results

1986–87 Game Log :
October: 2–4–4 (Home: 1–2–2; Road: 1–2–2)
GameOctoberOpponentScoreRecord
19New Jersey Devils5–30–1–0
211@ Pittsburgh Penguins6–5 OT0–2–0
313Washington Capitals7–6 OT0–3–0
415@ Chicago Blackhawks5–5 OT0–3–1
518@ New York Islanders3–21–3–1
619New York Islanders2–2 OT1–3–2
722Los Angeles Kings5–4 OT2–3–2
825@ Montreal Canadiens3–3 OT2–3–3
926Toronto Maple Leafs3–3 OT2–3–4
1029@ St. Louis Blues7–22–4–4 :
November: 5–7–2 (Home: 3–2–1; Road: 2–5–1)
GameNovemberOpponentScoreRecord
112Winnipeg Jets5–4 OT2–5–4
125@ Detroit Red Wings5–4 OT2–6–4
138@ Philadelphia Flyers3–23–6–4
149@ Quebec Nordiques6–53–7–4
1512Buffalo Sabres2–1 OT4–7–4
1614Philadelphia Flyers2–15–7–4
1716Edmonton Oilers8–65–8–4
1817@ New Jersey Devils3–25–9–4
1919@ Edmonton Oilers5–4 OT5–10–4
2021@ Vancouver Canucks8–56–10–4
2122@ Calgary Flames8–56–11–4
2226Quebec Nordiques4–27–11–4
2329@ Pittsburgh Penguins5–5 OT7–11–5
2430Pittsburgh Penguins2–2 OT7–11–6 :
December: 8–6–0 (Home: 4–2–0; Road: 4–4–0)
GameDecemberOpponentScoreRecord
252@ New Jersey Devils8–57–12–6
265@ Winnipeg Jets6–38–12–6
2710Los Angeles Kings5–49–12–6
2811@ Montreal Canadiens6–29–13–6
2914@ Washington Capitals3–110–13–6
3015Minnesota North Stars4–310–14–6
3117Washington Capitals6–111–14–6
3220@ New York Islanders5–211–15–6
3321Hartford Whalers4–3 OT11–16–6
3423New Jersey Devils8–512–16–6
3526@ New Jersey Devils7–413–16–6
3627@ St. Louis Blues3–213–17–6
3730@ Pittsburgh Penguins5–314–17–6
3831New York Islanders4–3 OT15–17–6 :
January: 5–6–2 (Home: 2–3–1; Road: 3–3–1)
GameJanuaryOpponentScoreRecord
393@ Quebec Nordiques5–216–17–6
405Minnesota North Stars3–3 OT16–17–7
417Philadelphia Flyers6–316–18–7
429New York Islanders2–116–19–7
4311Vancouver Canucks8–317–19–7
4412@ Boston Bruins4–117–20–7
4514@ Calgary Flames8–518–20–7
4619@ Los Angeles Kings2–2 OT18–20–8
4721@ Vancouver Canucks5–318–21–8
4823@ Edmonton Oilers7–418–22–8
4926New Jersey Devils6–319–22–8
5028Winnipeg Jets2–119–23–8
5131@ Philadelphia Flyers3–120–23–8 :
February: 7–5–0 (Home: 4–3–0; Road: 3–2–0)
GameFebruaryOpponentScoreRecord
521Boston Bruins5–421–23–8
534Washington Capitals3–222–23–8
547@ Washington Capitals5–4 OT23–23–8
558Toronto Maple Leafs5–423–24–8
5615Pittsburgh Penguins4–124–24–8
5717Detroit Red Wings6–225–24–8
5819@ Chicago Blackhawks5–225–25–8
5920Buffalo Sabres6–325–26–8
6022Pittsburgh Penguins4–225–27–8
6124@ Buffalo Sabres6–326–27–8
6225@ Toronto Maple Leafs4–227–27–8
6328@ Detroit Red Wings4–127–28–8 :
March: 7–7–0 (Home: 4–4–0; Road: 3–3–0)
GameMarchOpponentScoreRecord
641@ Washington Capitals7–327–29–8
654New York Islanders7–528–29–8
668Calgary Flames7–428–30–8
6711Boston Bruins3–229–30–8
6812@ Philadelphia Flyers6–130–30–8
6914@ Pittsburgh Penguins3–2 OT31–30–8
7015Philadelphia Flyers5–231–31–8
7117@ Philadelphia Flyers4–131–32–8
7218Hartford Whalers5–331–33–8
7321@ New York Islanders4–331–34–8
7422Chicago Blackhawks5–332–34–8
7525New Jersey Devils8–232–35–8
7627St. Louis Blues6–433–35–8
7730@ Minnesota North Stars6–534–35–8 :
April: 0–3–0 (Home: 0–2–0; Road: 0–1–0)
GameAprilOpponentScoreRecord
781Washington Capitals5–134–36–8
794@ Hartford Whalers5–334–37–8
805Montreal Canadiens8–234–38–8 :

## Playoffs

Key: Win Loss
1987 Stanley Cup playoffs :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| Walt Poddubny | 75 | 40 | 47 | 87 | 16 | 49 |
| Tomas Sandstrom | 64 | 40 | 34 | 74 | 8 | 60 |
| Kelly Kisio | 70 | 24 | 40 | 64 | −5 | 73 |
| Pierre Larouche | 73 | 28 | 35 | 63 | −7 | 12 |
| Don Maloney | 72 | 19 | 38 | 57 | 7 | 117 |
| James Patrick | 78 | 10 | 45 | 55 | 13 | 62 |
| Tony McKegney$^†$ | 64 | 29 | 17 | 46 | −1 | 56 |
| Ron Greschner | 61 | 6 | 34 | 40 | −6 | 62 |
| Mike Ridley$^‡$ | 38 | 16 | 20 | 36 | −10 | 20 |
| Mark Osborne$^‡$ | 58 | 17 | 15 | 32 | −15 | 101 |
| Willie Huber | 66 | 8 | 22 | 30 | −13 | 68 |
| Jan Erixon | 68 | 8 | 18 | 26 | 3 | 24 |
| Ron Duguay$^†$ | 34 | 9 | 12 | 21 | −8 | 9 |
| Kelly Miller$^‡$ | 38 | 6 | 14 | 20 | −5 | 22 |
| Curt Giles$^†$ | 61 | 2 | 17 | 19 | 3 | 50 |
| Larry Melnyk | 73 | 3 | 12 | 15 | −13 | 182 |
| Terry Carkner | 52 | 2 | 13 | 15 | −1 | 118 |
| Chris Jensen | 37 | 6 | 7 | 13 | −1 | 21 |
| Lucien DeBlois | 40 | 3 | 8 | 11 | −7 | 27 |
| Tom Laidlaw$^‡$ | 63 | 1 | 10 | 11 | −18 | 65 |
| Marcel Dionne$^†$ | 14 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −8 | 6 |
| Bobby Carpenter$^{†‡}$ | 28 | 2 | 8 | 10 | −12 | 20 |
| George McPhee | 21 | 4 | 4 | 8 | −2 | 34 |
| Bob Brooke$^‡$ | 15 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 20 |
| Kjell Samuelsson$^‡$ | 30 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 50 |
| Jeff Jackson$^†$ | 9 | 5 | 1 | 6 | −3 | 15 |
| Raimo Helminen$^‡$ | 21 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −8 | 2 |
| Dave Gagner | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 12 |
| Lane Lambert$^‡$ | 18 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 33 |
| Brad Maxwell$^{†‡}$ | 9 | 0 | 4 | 4 | −1 | 6 |
| Jay Caufield | 13 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 45 |
| Mike Donnelly | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Pat Price$^†$ | 13 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −8 | 49 |
| Gordie Walker | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Don Jackson | 22 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 91 |
| Norm Maciver | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −5 | 0 |
| Jim Leavins | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Mike Siltala | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Bob Crawford$^‡$ | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
| Stu Kulak$^†$ | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Ron Talakoski | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| Paul Fenton | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −5 | 2 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Ron Greschner | 6 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Pierre Larouche | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| James Patrick | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Don Maloney | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Tomas Sandstrom | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 20 |
| Jeff Jackson | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 16 |
| Marcel Dionne | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Ron Duguay | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Willie Huber | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Pat Price | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 27 |
| George McPhee | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 28 |
| Jan Erixon | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kelly Kisio | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Stu Kulak | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jay Caufield | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Lucien DeBlois | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Terry Carkner | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Melnyk | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Curt Giles | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Tony McKegney | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Walt Poddubny | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |

### Goaltenders

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO |
| John Vanbiesbrouck | 50 | 2656 | 18 | 20 | 5 | 161 | 3.64 | 1363 | .882 | 0 |
| Bob Froese$^†$ | 28 | 1474 | 14 | 11 | 0 | 92 | 3.74 | 783 | .883 | 0 |
| Doug Soetaert | 13 | 675 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 58 | 5.16 | 367 | .842 | 0 |
| Ron Scott | 1 | 65 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4.62 | 35 | .857 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO |
| John Vanbiesbrouck | 4 | 195 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 3.38 | 110 | .900 | 1 |
| Bob Froese | 4 | 165 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3.64 | 96 | .896 | 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.
    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 1986 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, Canada at the Montreal Forum.
| Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 9 | Brian Leetch | D | United States | Avon Old Farms (Connecticut) |
| 3 | 51 | Bret Walter | C | Canada | University of Alberta (CIAU) |
| 3 | 53 | Shaun Clouston | C | Canada | University of Alberta (CIAU) |
| 4 | 72 | Mark Janssens | C | Canada | Regina Pats (WHL) |
| 5 | 93 | Jeff Bloemberg | D | Canada | North Bay Centennials (OHL) |
| 6 | 114 | Darren Turcotte | C | United States | North Bay Centennials (OHL) |
| 7 | 135 | Rob Graham | RW | United States | Guelph Platers (OHL) |
| 8 | 156 | Barry Chyzowski | C | Canada | St. Albert Saints (AJHL) |
| 9 | 177 | Pat Scanlon | LW | United States | Cretin Derham Hall H.S. (Minnesota) |
| 10 | 198 | Joe Ranger | D | Canada | London Knights (OHL) |
| 11 | 219 | Russ Parent | D | Canada | South Winnipeg Blues (MJHL) |
| 12 | 240 | Soren True | LW | Denmark | Skobakken (Denmark) |

### Supplemental Draft

New York's picks at the 1986 NHL Supplemental Draft.
| Round | # | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 2 | 12 | Gary Emmons | C | Canada | Northern Michigan University (CCHA) |