On September 17 in Rangers history: Hello Buffalo Sabres

What happened on September 17 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1970, the New York Rangers made history in Peterborough, Ontario, becoming the first team to ever play the newest NHL team, the Buffalo Sabres.  It was a preseason game and it ended in a 4-4 tie.

The Sabres jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the established Rangers fought back for the tie.    Who scored the first goal for the Buffalo Sabres?  Diminutive center (5’9″, 160 pounds) Billy Inglis beat Ranger goalie Gilles Villemure, tapping home a rebound.  Inglis played 14 games that season for the Sabres and failed to score.  He later served as coach of the team in the 1978-79 season.

Sabres coach and general manager Punch Imlach told reporters “Naturally we’d like to have won, but I still say it’s a hell of a story. Any time we tie New York this year, I’ll be happy because that means I’ll beat a lot of other guys.”

The Sabres finished fifth in the East Division that season with 63 points, ahead of the expansion Vancouver Canucks,  and the Detroit Red Wings.  The Rangers finished second in the East with 109 points, but lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Black Hawks.

The Rangers played the Sabres six times that season and never lost with a 6-0-2 record against them.  The Sabres’  top scorer was rookie Gilbert Perrault who netted 38 goals and 74 points.  The Buffalo lineup included  no less than nine former Rangers in Phil Goyette, Don Marshall, Eddie Shack, Al Hamilton, Dick Duff, Floyd Smith, Reggie Fleming, Dave Dryden and Mike McMahon along with future Rangers coach Jean-Guy Talbot,

Today’s birthdays

25 NHL players have been born on September 17 with three former Rangers among them.

Gene Carr was born on this date in 1951 in Nanaimo, British Columbia.  The fourth overall pick in the 1971 Amateur Draft by the St. Louis Blues, the Rangers traded for the center in his rookie year in a blockbuster deal. They sent Moose Dupont, Jack Egers and Mike Murphy to the Blues for Carr, Wayne Connelly and Jim Lorentz.  Carr was known for his long blond hair and his 104 points season for Flin Flon, but he never lived up to his reputation and was traded to the Kings in 1977.  In eight NHL seasons he scored 79 goals, getting into double figures only once.  The good news is the Kings gave the Rangers a first round draft pick for Carr and with the pick, the Blueshirts drafted Ron Duguay.

Ron Zamuner was a left winger born on this date in 1969 in Oakville, Ontario.  A third round pick by the Rangers in the 1989 draft, he made it to New York for nine games in 1991-92, but signed with the Lightning as a free agent the next summer. He played in Tampa for seven years, known as a defensive forward who got Selke Trophy consideration. He ended up playing 13 seasons in the NHL for four teams.

Garth Murray was born on this date in 1982 in Regina, Saskatchewan.   A center drafted in the third round of the 2001 Entry Draft, Murray played 20 games for the Rangers in the 2003-04 season, scoring one goal. The Rangers traded him to Montreal for Marcel Hossa (the wrong Hossa) and he played 96 more games for the Canadiens, Panthers and Coyotes scoring seven goals and nine points over parts of four seasons.