The Rangers began the 1976-77 season – and their second half century in the NHL – with a new look. That Blueshirts had new uniforms, ones that featured the team’s crest on the front of the jersey, rather than the “R-A-N-G-E-R-S” letters featured diagonally that had been on the front of the jersey for 49 of their first 50 seasons. In addition, the jersey had a wide shoulder stripe at the top and down the sleeves.
The Rangers’ “new look” also extended to the players on the team and the personnel in the front office. John Ferguson, who became the Blueshirts’ head coach and general manager midway through the 1975-76 season, made a concerted effort to have the Rangers become a younger team, and except for relying on a few veterans, his plan was to infuse as many young players into the lineup as possible in 1976-77.
One of those young players was Don Murdoch, who was selected by the Rangers with the sixth overall pick in the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft. At 19 years old, he came to the Rangers and the NHL with the reputation of being a goal scorer, having tallied 82 goals and 88 goals in his two seasons of junior hockey, respectively, with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Western Canada Hockey League.
“I know I’m going to have to prove myself,” Murdoch said in June of 1976 after being drafted by the Rangers and signing his first NHL contract with the team. “But I am determined to make this club. The Rangers are trying to rebuild, but they have a lot of talent. I hope I can fit in.”
Murdoch didn’t just fit in. He excelled almost instantly.
After earning a spot with the Rangers following the team’s training camp, Murdoch scored two goals in his NHL debut, helping the Blueshirts defeat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-5, on October 6, 1976, at MSG. He also scored a goal in his second NHL game two days later.
But in Murdoch’s fourth NHL game on October 12, 1976, against the North Stars in Minnesota, he accomplished a feat that no other Ranger had during the franchise’s first half-century in the NHL. Still two weeks away from celebrating his 20th birthday, Murdoch scored five goals in the Rangers’ 10-4 victory over the North Stars.
“Scoring five goals in the National Hockey League is something I never dreamed of,” Murdoch said following the game. “I’ve had a few four-goal games in junior, but never five.”
Murdoch scored his five goals in just over half of the game. The Rangers held a 4-2 lead after the first period before Murdoch tallied his first goal of the contest at 8:23 of the second period. He added two more goals before the period was over to help the Blueshirts take a 7-4 lead going into the final 20 minutes of the game. Then, he scored his fourth goal with 2:28 remaining in regulation and his fifth goal with just five seconds left in the contest.
In addition to becoming the first Ranger to ever score five goals in a game, the right winger also became just the second rookie in the NHL’s modern era to score that many goals in a contest (joining the Maple Leafs’ Howie Meeker, who accomplished the feat in 1947). No other NHL rookie has scored five or more goals in a game since Murdoch did nearly half a century ago.
Following his strong start to the season, Murdoch continued to rack up goals for the Blueshirts. By mid-February, he had tallied 32 goals and 56 points in just 58 games; his 32 goals were the seventh-most among all players in the NHL, and he was leading all rookies in the league in goals and points. Murdoch was also one of three Rangers who played in the 1977 NHL All-Star Game, along with Rod Gilbert and Phil Esposito.
Unfortunately for Murdoch and the Rangers, he sustained a torn tendon in his ankle during a practice, and the injury sidelined him for all but one game for the remainder of the season. In addition, he was the runner-up for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year in 1976-77.
Since Murdoch’s five-goal game on that October night in 1976, only two other Rangers players have scored five goals in a game – Mark Pavelich in February of 1983 and Mika Zibanejad in March of 2020. While his Rangers tenure was relatively short, Murdoch’s moment continues to live on in the franchise’s record book.
