“Put this in your Ripley’s Believe it or Not! finishes!”
Sam Rosen’s call, citing the franchise that highlighted strange and bizarre events, accurately described the ending to the Rangers’ 5-4 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings at the Great Western Forum on January 27, 1994.
For the Rangers, who were on a magical run throughout the 1993-94 season, the game provided another example of how they found ways to win throughout that year. The Blueshirts entered the game with the best record in the NHL and were facing the defending Western Conference Champions. The Kings, however, were not having the same success in 1993-94 as they had the previous season and were hoping that a win against the team with the best record in the NHL could help revitalize their season.
As was the case whenever the Rangers played the Kings from the 1991-92 season through the 1995-96 season, the focus was on two of the NHL’s legends who were leading their respective teams in the biggest east coast and west coast markets in the United States – Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky. Less than a week prior to the Rangers-Kings game in Los Angeles, Messier and Gretzky were the captains for the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, respectively, at the 1994 NHL All-Star Game at MSG. In addition, the two players who led the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cup championships in a five-year span in the 1980s had each celebrated their 33rd birthday in the days leading up to the game (Messier’s birthday was January 18th, Gretzky’s was January 26th). While Messier was leading the Rangers to the NHL’s best record, Gretzky was leading the league in scoring with 87 points in 47 games, and he was closing in on Gordie Howe’s all-time NHL goals record (Gretzky entered the game with 788 goals, approaching Howe’s total of 801).
“There was added significance to this game for sure,” said Tony Granato, who began his NHL career with the Rangers and was a member of the Kings in 1993-94. “As much as Wayne and Mark love each other and loved being teammates together, there was a lot on the line when they played against each other because of their competitiveness. Their competitiveness drove each of them to greatness.
“Every game those two played against each other, and in my case being part of Wayne’s team, you wanted to make sure at the end of the game that you played your best and your hardest to make sure that Wayne was walking out of the building proud and, hopefully, victorious.”
As the game unfolded, the Rangers controlled most of the play. Tony Amonte scored to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead just 2:19 into the contest, and Sergei Zubov added a goal three minutes later to put the Blueshirts ahead by two. Even though the Kings scored one minute after Zubov’s goal, Alexei Kovalev quickly answered with a goal of his own to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead. When Sergei Nemchinov put the Rangers ahead 4-1 early in the second period, it appeared as if the game was out of reach and the team would cruise to victory as they had so many times already that season.
Los Angeles battled back, starting with a goal from Gretzky; ‘The Great One’ scored his 789th career NHL goal while the Kings had a power play to make the score 4-2. Before the second period was over, Los Angeles had cut its deficit to one. The Rangers had not lost any game that season when leading entering the third period, and in this game against the Kings, the Rangers put the pressure on to get an insurance goal in the final 20 minutes. Kings goaltender, Kelly Hrudey, however, made several remarkable saves to keep the score 4-3, and with less than five minutes remaining in regulation, Los Angeles tied the score.
The contest would be decided in overtime. Overtime in the NHL in 1993-94 looked very different than overtime in today’s NHL. First, the two teams continued to play at 5-on-5 in overtime, as opposed to today, where the teams play at 3-on-3. Second, if neither team scored during the five-minute overtime period, the game ended in a tie rather than go to a shootout to determine a winner. And third, if a team lost a game in overtime in 1993-94, they did not receive a point in the standings.
The Rangers began the overtime with several chances, which included point blank shots from Brian Leetch and Adam Graves, but were unable to score. The Kings had a great scoring chance of their own with just under one minute remaining in overtime; former Ranger Tomas Sandstrom took a wrist shot from in between the faceoff circles that Mike Richter was just able to stop with his right leg.
As overtime was winding down, the Rangers were in the midst of a 3-on-2 rush. With Amonte skating down the right wing boards, Granato jumped over the boards to interfere with him and stop the rush. With no other Kings player near the bench to come off the ice, it appeared as if Granato was willing to take a penalty to prevent a Rangers scoring chance and possible game-winning goal in the final seconds of overtime.
“I remember being up next in the event there would be a line change,” Granato said as he recalled the unorthodox play. “The Rangers had an odd-man rush, and I knew none of my teammates on the ice were close enough to the bench to make a line change. I said, ‘what the heck? If I jump over and I break up this play, it would be worth it to take a penalty. So, I did, and when Amonte got the pass, he ran into me and I drilled him and went right back on the bench.
“The whistle blew, and the ref called a too many men on the ice penalty. I remember Mess then skating over and saying to the ref that it should be a penalty shot.”
After conferring with the linesmen, referee Rob Shick ruled that Granato’s infraction was an illegal substitution, and with 10.7 seconds remaining in overtime, Amonte was awarded a penalty shot. Amonte, who scored the game’s first goal, had a chance to end the wild contest in dramatic fashion, but Hrudey made a glove save on his penalty shot attempt to keep the score tied.
With only 10.7 seconds remaining, it appeared as if the game would end in a tie. The ensuing faceoff took place in the Kings’ zone, to Hrudey’s left. Messier, who was one of the best in the NHL on faceoffs, lost the draw to Jari Kurri. Rob Blake took the puck for Los Angeles and tried to fire it around the boards and out of the zone. Zubov was able to keep the puck in the zone, and with just under five seconds left, took a shot towards the Kings net.
Hrudey stopped Zubov’s initial shot, but nobody on the Kings realized that Messier had skated behind the net and around to the other side after losing the faceoff. As Hrudey went to get the rebound, Messier’s stick beat his to the puck. The puck slowly trickled past Hrudey and over the goal line. There were 1.5 seconds remaining on the clock, and the Rangers had pulled out a victory, perhaps unlike any other in franchise history.
Messier’s goal remains the latest overtime goal the Rangers have scored in a five-minute overtime period since overtime was re-implemented in the NHL in 1983-84.
