The New York Rangers ended years and years of frustration when they had their miraculous run through the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Rangers had a brilliant team that year with head coach Mike Keenan behind the bench, captain Mark Messier demonstrating leadership, defenseman Brian Leetch triggering the attack and goalie Mike Richter providing brilliant play in net.
That championship ended 54 years of pain and suffering along with the brutal “1940” chant that was regularly delivered by New York Islanders fans that ridiculed both the team and its fans. The championship got rid of the huge weight that had tormented the franchise.
The season prior to the championship was a disaster.
The 1992-93 Rangers had a 34-39-11 record and finished sixth in the NHL’s Patrick Division. The team had multiple problems and the biggest one was centered on a dispute between Messier and head coach Roger Neilson.
Messier was very unhappy with the defensive tactics employed by the head coach. He thought Neilson was holding the team back and that the Rangers needed to play a more offensive and free-wheeling style.
Messier had plenty of credibility. The 1992-93 season was the only one in his career that his team had missed the playoffs. He had won five Stanley Cups during his tenure with the Edmonton Oilers and he believed that Neilson’s strategy was holding the team back.
Messier’s complaint chafed the head coach and their relationship disintegrated. As the season reached the midway point, Neilson had a meeting with several of the Rangers’ key players — Mike Gartner, Adam Graves and Kevin Lowe — to complain about Messier.
Neilson told his other players that Messier was not fulfilling his role as the Rangers’ leader. The team was clearly fractured.
Management was not about to put up with this issue between the head coach and the team’s best all-around player and one of the greatest leaders in NHL history.
Neilson got fired and he was replaced by Ron Smith on an interim basis.
The move did not save the 1992-93 season, but it led to the hiring of Keenan to take over behind the bench. While Keenan was a tough-minded head coach who was extremely demanding of his players, he also brought out the best in his players. The Rangers thrived under Keenan, finishing with the best record in the NHL – 52-24-8 – and winning the Presidents Trophy before beginning their Stanley Cup run.
The Stanley Cup run saw the Rangers sweep the Islanders in four games before winning the Eastern Conference semifinals over the Washington Capitals by a 4-1 margin.
Those two relatively easy triumphs came prior to the Eastern Conference Finals 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Messier delivered a hat trick in the comeback win in Game 6 before the famous double overtime triumph in Game 7 on the goal by Stephane Matteau. The radio call of “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!” on the winning goal by radio play-by-play man Howie Rose remains a New York City legend.
The seven-game triumph over the Vancouver Canucks would bring the team their long-awaited Stanley Cup.
The Rangers had a brilliant team that season, but the foundation was laid the season before when Messier and the previous head coach butted heads. As a result of that confrontation, the organization made the needed changes that turned the brutal disappointment of 1992-93 into the championship joy of 1993-94.
