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. 
==Offseason==
===NHL Draft===
Round	Pick 	Player 	Nationality 	College/junior/club team
1 	26 	Dan Cloutier (G)	 	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)
52 	Rudolf Verčík (Forward)	 	New York Rangers	HC Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl1994e.html
==Regular season==
===Final standings===
===Game log===
# 	R	Date 	Score 	Opponent 	Record
1 	L	Jan 20, 1995	1–2 	Buffalo Sabres 	0–1–0
2 	W	Jan 21, 1995	5–2 	Montreal Canadiens 	1–1–0
3 	L	Jan 23, 1995	1–2 	Boston Bruins 	1–2–0
4 	L	Jan 25, 1995	2–3 	Pittsburgh Penguins 	1–3–0
5 	L	Jan 28, 1995	0–2 	@ Quebec Nordiques 	1–4–0
6 	W	Jan 30, 1995	6–2 	Ottawa Senators 	2–4–0
7 	L	Feb 1, 1995 	3–4 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	2–5–0
8 	T	Feb 2, 1995 	3–3 OT	Tampa Bay Lightning 	2–5–1
9 	W	Feb 4, 1995 	2–1 	@ Ottawa Senators 	3–5–1
10	W	Feb 8, 1995 	5–4 	Washington Capitals 	4–5–1
11	L	Feb 9, 1995 	1–4 	@ New Jersey Devils 	4–6–1
12	W	Feb 11, 1995	3–2 	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	5–6–1
13	W	Feb 15, 1995	2–1 	@ Buffalo Sabres 	6–6–1
14	T	Feb 16, 1995	2–2 OT	Montreal Canadiens 	6–6–2
15	L	Feb 18, 1995	2–5 	@ Montreal Canadiens 	6–7–2
16	W	Feb 20, 1995	3–1 	@ Tampa Bay Lightning	7–7–2
17	W	Feb 21, 1995	5–3 	@ Florida Panthers 	8–7–2
18	L	Feb 24, 1995	1–2 	Hartford Whalers 	8–8–2
19	W	Feb 26, 1995	4–2 	@ Buffalo Sabres 	9–8–2
20	T	Feb 28, 1995	0–0 OT	Florida Panthers 	9–8–3
21	W	Mar 1, 1995 	5–2 	@ Hartford Whalers 	10–8–3
22	W	Mar 3, 1995 	5–3 	Philadelphia Flyers 	11–8–3
23	L	Mar 5, 1995 	2–4 	@ Washington Capitals	11–9–3
24	W	Mar 6, 1995 	4–3 	Ottawa Senators 	12–9–3
25	W	Mar 8, 1995 	6–4 	New Jersey Devils 	13–9–3
26	L	Mar 11, 1995	1–3 	@ Montreal Canadiens 	13–10–3
27	L	Mar 15, 1995	3–4 	Philadelphia Flyers 	13–11–3
28	L	Mar 18, 1995	1–4 	@ Washington Capitals	13–12–3
29	L	Mar 22, 1995	2–5 	New Jersey Devils 	13–13–3
30	L	Mar 23, 1995	0–1 	@ New York Islanders 	13–14–3
31	L	Mar 25, 1995	1–2 	@ Quebec Nordiques 	13–15–3
32	L	Mar 30, 1995	4–5 	Quebec Nordiques 	13–16–3
33	W	Apr 1, 1995 	3–2 	@ Boston Bruins 	14–16–3
34	L	Apr 2, 1995 	2–4 	@ Philadelphia Flyers	14–17–3
35	W	Apr 5, 1995 	5–0 	@ Florida Panthers 	15–17–3
36	L	Apr 7, 1995 	3–4 	New York Islanders 	15–18–3
37	L	Apr 9, 1995 	0–2 	@ New Jersey Devils 	15–19–3
38	W	Apr 12, 1995	3–1 	Buffalo Sabres 	16–19–3
39	W	Apr 14, 1995	5–3 	Boston Bruins 	17–19–3
40	W	Apr 16, 1995	3–2 	@ New York Islanders 	18–19–3
41	L	Apr 18, 1995	5–6 	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	18–20–3
42	W	Apr 20, 1995	3–2 	Hartford Whalers 	19–20–3
43	L	Apr 23, 1995	4–5 	@ Boston Bruins 	19–21–3
44	W	Apr 24, 1995	5–4 	Washington Capitals 	20–21–3
45	W	Apr 26, 1995	6–4 	Tampa Bay Lightning 	21–21–3
46	L	Apr 28, 1995	2–4 	New York Islanders 	21–22–3
47	W	Apr 30, 1995	2–0 	@ Philadelphia Flyers	22–22–3
48	L	May 2, 1995 	3–4 	Florida Panthers 	22–23–3
==Player stats==
===Forwards===
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
 	 	 	 	 	
===Defencemen===
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
 	 	 	 	 	
===Goaltending===
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average
Player	GP	W	L	T	SO	GAA
 	 	 	 	 	 	
==Transactions==
*July 24, 1994 - Doug Lidster was traded by the New York Rangers, along with Esa Tikkanen, to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Petr Nedvěd.
*March 23, 1995 - Hartford obtained D Glen Featherstone, D Michael Stewart and a first-round pick in the 1995 Entry Draft (Jean Sebastien Giguere) and a fourth-round pick in the 1996 Entry Draft for RW Pat Verbeek.NHL.com - 2008 Trade Deadline
==Playoffs==
{| cellpadding="3" border="1"	Quebec vs. NY Rangers 	Quebec vs. NY Rangers 	Quebec vs. NY Rangers 	Quebec vs. NY Rangers
Date 	Away 	Home 	 	
May 6 	NY Rangers 4 	5 Quebec 	 	
May 8 	NY Rangers 8 	3 Quebec 	 	
May 10 	Quebec 3 	4 NY Rangers 	 	
May 12 	Quebec 2 	3 NY Rangers 	OT 	
May 14 	NY Rangers 2 	4 Quebec 	 	
May 16 	Quebec 2 	4 NY Rangers 	 	
NY Rangers wins series 4–2	NY Rangers wins series 4–2	NY Rangers wins series 4–2	NY Rangers wins series 4–2	
Philadelphia vs. NY Rangers 	Philadelphia vs. NY Rangers 	Philadelphia vs. NY Rangers 	Philadelphia vs. NY Rangers
Date 	Away 	Home 	
May 21 	NY Rangers 4 	5 Philadelphia 	OT
May 22 	NY Rangers 3 	4 Philadelphia 	OT
May 24 	Philadelphia 5 	2 NY Rangers 	
May 26 	Philadelphia 4 	1 NY Rangers 	
Philadelphia wins series 4–0	Philadelphia wins series 4–0	Philadelphia wins series 4–0	Philadelphia wins series 4–0
==References==
* Rangers on Hockey Database
Category:New York Rangers seasons
New York Rangers season, 1994–95
New York Rangers season, 1994–95