1949–50 New York Rangers season

The 1949–50 New York Rangers season saw the Rangers finish in fourth place in the National Hockey League (NHL) with a record of 28 wins, 31 losses, and 11 ties for 67 points. They upset the Montreal Canadiens in five games in the Semi-finals before losing a close seven-game Stanley Cup Finals to the Detroit Red Wings. The team reached double-overtime of the seventh game of the Finals before Detroit's Pete Babando scored to give the Red Wings the Cup. The Rangers would not win another playoff series again until 1971.

1949–50 New York Rangers
Conference	4th NHL
1949–50 record	28–31–11
Goals for	170
Goals against	189
Team information
General manager	Frank Boucher
Coach	Lynn Patrick
Captain	Buddy O'Connor
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Edgar Laprade (22)
Assists	Tony Leswick and Don Raleigh (25)
Points	Edgar Laprade and Tony Leswick (44)
Penalty minutes	Gus Kyle (143)
Wins	Chuck Rayner (28)
Goals against average	Chuck Rayner (2.62)

Also of note during this season was that the Rangers were forced to use Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, the home ice of the Toronto Maple Leafs, as their "home ice" during the Stanley Cup Finals, as the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus was then at Madison Square Garden. Garden management found that they could make more money having the circus at the Garden instead of the Rangers. Moreover, at the time, arenas could not be configured to host a circus and a hockey game on the same day, thus forcing the shift in venue.

The Rangers would not reach the Stanley Cup Finals again until 1972.

Regular season

Final standings

National Hockey League[1]

		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Detroit Red Wings	70	37	19	14	229	164	+65	88
2	Montreal Canadiens	70	29	22	19	172	150	+22	77
3	Toronto Maple Leafs	70	31	27	12	176	173	+3	74
4	New York Rangers	70	28	31	11	170	189	−19	67
5	Boston Bruins	70	22	32	16	198	228	−30	60
6	Chicago Black Hawks	70	22	38	10	203	244	−41	54

Record vs. opponents

1949–50 NHL Records
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	MON	NYR	TOR
Boston	—	5–7–2	3–8–3	4–5–5	5–5–4	5–7–2
Chicago	7–5–2	—	3–9–2	4–8–2	4–9–1	4–7–3
Detroit	8–3–3	9–3–2	—	5–3–6	7–5–2	8–5–1
Montreal	5–4–5	8–4–2	3–5–6	—	7–5–2	6–4–4
New York	5–5–4	9–4–1	5–7–2	5–7–2	—	4–8–2
Toronto	7–5–2	7–4–3	5–8–1	4–6–4	8–4–2	—

Schedule and results

1949–50 Game Log
October: 2–4–2 (Home: 1–2–0; Road: 1–2–2) Game October Opponent Score Record 1 15 @ Montreal Canadiens 3–1 0–1–0 2 16 @ Boston Bruins 2–2 0–1–1 3 19 @ Detroit Red Wings 6–1 0–2–1 4 22 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 2–2 0–2–2 5 25 @ Chicago Black Hawks 2–1 1–2–2 6 26 Boston Bruins 5–2 2–2–2 7 29 Chicago Black Hawks 2–0 2–3–2 8 30 Toronto Maple Leafs 4–2 2–4–2
November: 3–4–4 (Home: 2–2–2; Road: 1–2–2) Game November Opponent Score Record 9 2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 3–3 2–4–3 10 6 @ Detroit Red Wings 7–0 2–5–3 11 9 Montreal Canadiens 2–2 2–5–4 12 12 Montreal Canadiens 5–3 2–6–4 13 13 Detroit Red Wings 1–1 2–6–5 14 16 Boston Bruins 2–1 3–6–5 15 20 @ Chicago Black Hawks 5–2 4–6–5 16 23 @ Detroit Red Wings 4–3 4–7–5 17 26 @ Montreal Canadiens 5–1 4–8–5 18 27 @ Boston Bruins 1–1 4–8–6 19 30 Montreal Canadiens 5–2 5–8–6
December: 9–3–1 (Home: 7–1–0; Road: 2–2–1) Game December Opponent Score Record 20 3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 2–0 5–9–6 21 4 Chicago Black Hawks 4–0 6–9–6 22 7 Chicago Black Hawks 2–1 7–9–6 23 10 @ Detroit Red Wings 1–0 8–9–6 24 11 Detroit Red Wings 2–1 9–9–6 25 14 @ Chicago Black Hawks 5–3 9–10–6 26 17 @ Boston Bruins 3–1 10–10–6 27 18 Toronto Maple Leafs 2–0 10–11–6 28 21 Montreal Canadiens 4–1 11–11–6 29 24 @ Montreal Canadiens 0–0 11–11–7 30 25 Toronto Maple Leafs 3–1 12–11–7 31 28 Chicago Black Hawks 5–2 13–11–7 32 31 Boston Bruins 4–1 14–11–7
January: 3–8–2 (Home: 2–3–1; Road: 1–5–1) Game January Opponent Score Record 33 1 @ Boston Bruins 6–0 14–12–7 34 4 Detroit Red Wings 2–1 15–12–7 35 7 @ Montreal Canadiens 3–1 16–12–7 36 8 Chicago Black Hawks 1–1 16–12–8 37 11 Toronto Maple Leafs 2–1 16–13–8 38 14 @ Detroit Red Wings 4–2 16–14–8 39 15 Detroit Red Wings 1–0 16–15–8 40 18 Boston Bruins 4–2 16–16–8 41 21 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 2–1 16–17–8 42 22 @ Chicago Black Hawks 4–3 16–18–8 43 25 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 5–1 16–19–8 44 28 @ Boston Bruins 2–2 16–19–9 45 29 Montreal Canadiens 2–0 17–19–9
February: 7–3–2 (Home: 4–0–1; Road: 3–3–1) Game February Opponent Score Record 46 1 @ Boston Bruins 3–2 17–20–9 47 2 @ Montreal Canadiens 4–1 17–21–9 48 5 @ Detroit Red Wings 5–5 17–21–10 49 9 @ Chicago Black Hawks 5–3 18–21–10 50 12 Detroit Red Wings 4–0 19–21–10 51 15 Boston Bruins 2–2 19–21–11 52 18 @ Montreal Canadiens 4–2 20–21–11 53 19 Toronto Maple Leafs 2–1 21–21–11 54 22 Chicago Black Hawks 3–0 22–21–11 55 23 @ Chicago Black Hawks 7–3 23–21–11 56 25 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 4–2 23–22–11 57 26 Boston Bruins 4–3 24–22–11
March: 4–9–0 (Home: 3–5–0; Road: 1–4–0) Game March Opponent Score Record 58 1 Detroit Red Wings 5–2 24–23–11 59 4 @ Boston Bruins 5–1 24–24–11 60 5 Toronto Maple Leafs 5–2 25–24–11 61 8 @ Chicago Black Hawks 4–2 26–24–11 62 9 Detroit Red Wings 3–1 27–24–11 63 11 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 4–0 27–25–11 64 12 Montreal Canadiens 5–1 27–26–11 65 15 Boston Bruins 4–1 27–27–11 66 18 @ Montreal Canadiens 5–3 27–28–11 67 19 Montreal Canadiens 4–2 27–29–11 68 21 Chicago Black Hawks 6–3 27–30–11 69 22 @ Detroit Red Wings 8–7 27–31–11 70 26 Toronto Maple Leafs 5–3 28–31–11

Playoffs

Stanley Cup Finals

It was the Rangers' first appearance in the Final since their Stanley Cup victory in 1940. Two games were played in Toronto as the circus had taken over Madison Square Garden in New York. New York's Don Raleigh scored two overtime winners and Detroit's Pete Babando scored the Cup-winning goal in overtime of game seven, the first time ever in which the stanley cup was won in extra frames in game seven. Detroit won the Cup without Gordie Howe, who was injured in the first game of the playoffs. As Stanley Cup runner-up, the Rangers would be awarded the O'Brien Cup, the last team to win the trophy, at one time the National Hockey Association championship trophy, which was retired after the season.

Key:   Win   Loss

1950 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Semi-finals: vs. Montreal Canadiens – New York Rangers win series 4–1 # Date Visitor Score Home OT Series 1 March 29 Montreal Canadiens 1–3 New York Rangers New York Rangers lead series 1–0 2 April 1 New York Rangers 3–2 Montreal Canadiens New York Rangers lead series 2–0 3 April 2 Montreal Canadiens 1–4 New York Rangers New York Rangers lead series 3–0 4 April 4 New York Rangers 2–3 Montreal Canadiens OT New York Rangers lead series 3–1 5 April 6 New York Rangers 3–0 Montreal Canadiens New York Rangers win series 4–1 Stanley Cup Finals: vs. Detroit Red Wings – Detroit wins series 4–3 # Date Visitor Score Home OT Series 1 April 11 New York Rangers 1–4 Detroit Red Wings Detroit leads series 1–0 2 April 13 (in Toronto, Ontario) Detroit Red Wings 1–3 New York Rangers Series tied 1–1 3 April 15 (in Toronto, Ontario) Detroit Red Wings 4–0 New York Rangers Detroit leads series 2–1 4 April 18 New York Rangers 4–3 Detroit Red Wings OT Series tied 2–2 5 April 20 New York Rangers 2–1 Detroit Red Wings OT New York Rangers lead series 3–2 6 April 22 New York Rangers 4–5 Detroit Red Wings Series tied 3–3 7 April 23 New York Rangers 3–4 Detroit Red Wings OT Detroit wins series 4–3

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season Player GP G A Pts PIM Edgar Laprade 60 22 22 44 2 Tony Leswick 69 19 25 44 85 Ed Slowinski 63 14 23 37 12 Don Raleigh 70 12 25 37 11 Dunc Fisher 70 12 21 33 42 Herbert O'Connor 66 11 22 33 4 Alex Kaleta 67 17 14 31 40 Pentti Lund 64 18 9 27 16 Nick Mickoski 47 10 10 20 10 Pat Egan 70 5 11 16 50 Jack McLeod 38 6 9 15 2 Fred Shero 67 2 8 10 71 Norman Poile^‡ 28 3 6 9 8 Allan Stanley 55 4 4 8 58 Walter Kyle 70 3 5 8 143 Frank Eddolls 58 2 6 8 20 Jean Lamirande 16 4 3 7 6 Jack Lancien 43 1 4 5 27 Winston Juckes 14 2 1 3 6 Norman Lowe 3 1 1 2 0 Don Smith 10 1 1 2 0 Wally Stanowski 37 1 1 2 10 Sherman White 3 0 2 2 0 Jean-Paul Denis 4 0 1 1 2 Doug Adam 4 0 1 1 0 Fern Perreault 1 0 0 0 0 Jack Gordon 1 0 0 0 0 Bill Kyle 2 0 0 0 0 Jack Evans 3 0 0 0 2 Bill McDonagh 4 0 0 0 2 John Webster 14 0 0 0 4

Playoffs Player GP G A Pts PIM Pentti Lund 12 6 5 11 0 Don Raleigh 12 4 5 9 4 Edgar Laprade 12 3 5 8 4 Ed Slowinski 12 2 6 8 6 Allan Stanley 12 2 5 7 10 Herbert O'Connor 12 4 2 6 4 Dunc Fisher 12 3 3 6 14 Tony Leswick 12 2 4 6 12 Nick Mickoski 12 1 5 6 2 Pat Egan 12 3 1 4 6 Walter Kyle 12 1 2 3 30 Alex Kaleta 10 0 3 3 0 Jack Gordon 9 1 1 2 7 Frank Eddolls 11 0 1 1 4 Jack Lancien 4 0 1 1 0 Fred Shero 7 0 1 1 2 Jean Lamirande 2 0 0 0 0 Jack McLeod 7 0 0 0 0 Don Smith 1 0 0 0 0

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Chuck Rayner	69	4140	28	30	11	181	2.62	6
Emile Francis	1	60	0	1	0	8	8.00	0

Playoffs

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
Chuck Rayner	12	775	7	5	29	2.25	1

^†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.

[2]

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;

Awards and records

• O'Brien Cup: New York Rangers
• Hart Memorial Trophy: Chuck Rayner
• Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: Edgar Laprade
• Tony Leswick, Left Wing, NHL Second Team All-Star
• Chuck Rayner, Goaltender, NHL Second Team All-Star

References

• Rangers on Hockey Database
• Rangers on Hockey-Reference

1. "1949–1950 Division Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". National Hockey League.
2. "1949–50 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-08-08.