1994 – 95 New York Rangers season The 1994 – 95 New York Rangers season was the 69th season for the franchise . With Mike Keenan off to St . Louis to coach the Blues , the Rangers hired Colin Campbell to lead the Rangers . Members of the 1994 Stanley Cup championship team Doug Lidster and Esa Tikkanen would join Keenan in St . Louis , as Lidster and Tikkanen were traded for Petr Nedved on July 24 , 1994 . Another member of the championship team , Glenn Anderson would sign with St . Louis as a free agent on February 13 , 1995 . On March 23 , the team acquired Pat Verbeek through a trade with the Hartford Whalers . Verbeek would prove to be a handy addition to the club , scoring 10 goals in 19 games . The defending Cup champions finished the season 8th place in the Eastern Conference with a mediocre record of 22 - 23 - 3 for 47 points - just one point ahead of the Florida Panthers . The Rangers faced the first - place Quebec Nordiques in the first round of the playoffs . They narrowly lost game 1 by a score of 5 - 4 , as the Nordiques were powered by Joe Sakic ' s hat trick . New York came back in game 2 , winning 8 - 3 . Sergei Nemchinov and Petr Nedved each scored twice . After edging the Nordiques 4 - 3 in game 3 , the Rangers found themselves trailing 2 - 0 in game 4 . They would tie it up on goals by Brian Leetch and Alexei Kovalev . Steve Larmer scored the winner at 8 : 09 of the first overtime period . Facing elimination , the Nordiques played a determined game 5 at home and won 4 - 2 to cut New York ' s lead in the series to 3 - 2 . The Rangers , at home for game 6 , built up a 4 - 0 lead and ended up winning 4 - 2 , to eliminate the Nordiques 4 games to 2 . The Nordiques moved to Colorado almost immediately , as the announcement came on May 25 , 1995 . In the second round , the Rangers faced a determined Philadelphia Flyers team that was led by the " Legion of Doom " line . In game 1 , the Rangers jumped out to a 2 - 0 lead after the first period on power - play goals by Brian Leetch and Petr Nedved . With the help of John LeClair ' s hat trick , the Flyers took a 4 - 3 lead in the third period . With only 19 seconds remaining , Pat Verbeek tied the game a 4 - 4 . However , it was the Flyers who would ultimately win the game , as Eric Desjardins scored at 7 : 03 of the first overtime period . Game 2 started nearly identically to game 1 , as New York led 2 - 0 after the first period on power - play goals . Both were scored by Brian Leetch . Philadelphia re - gained control of the game as they had in game 1 , leading 3 - 2 midway through the third period . With under 8 minutes to go , Leetch completed his hat trick to tie the score at 3 - 3 . This game also went into overtime , and the Flyers needed only 25 seconds to win it , as defenseman Kevin Haller scored his 3rd of the playoffs to give Philadelphia a 2 - 0 lead in the series . The Flyers went on to dominate games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden in New York , winning 5 - 2 and 4 - 1 to complete the sweep . Player stats . Forwards . " Note : GP = Games played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points ; PIM = Penalty minutes " Defencemen . " Note : GP = Games played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points ; PIM = Penalty minutes " Goaltending . " Note : GP = Games played ; W = Wins ; L = Losses ; T = Ties ; SO = Shutouts ; GAA = Goals against average "