1979–80 New York Rangers season

NHL hockey team season

1979–80 New York Rangers
Division3rd Patrick
Conference4th Campbell
1979–80 record38-32-10
Goals for308
Goals against284
Team information
General managerFred Shero
CoachFred Shero
CaptainDave Maloney
Alternate captainsNone
ArenaMadison Square Garden
Team leaders
GoalsPhil Esposito (34)
AssistsDon Maloney (48)
PointsPhil Esposito (78)
Penalty minutesDave Maloney (186)
WinsJohn Davidson (20)
Goals against averageJohn Davidson (3.17)

The 1979–80 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 54th season. The Rangers qualified for the playoffs but bowed out in the second round to Shero's old team, the Philadelphia Flyers. The team's on- and off-ice activities during this campaign was the subject of Larry Sloman's 1982 book Thin Ice: A Season in Hell with the New York Rangers.[1]

Regular season

Season standings

Patrick Division
GP W L T GF GA Pts
Philadelphia Flyers 80 48 12 20 327 254 116
New York Islanders 80 39 28 13 281 247 91
New York Rangers 80 38 32 10 308 284 86
Atlanta Flames 80 35 32 13 282 269 83
Washington Capitals 80 27 40 13 261 293 67

[2]Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Record vs. opponents

Patrick Division record vs. opponents

Vs. Campbell Conference

Vs. Patrick Division

1979–80 NHL records[3]
Team ATL NYI NYR PHI WSH Total
Atlanta — 1–3 3–0–1 2–2 3–0–1 9−5−2
N.Y. Islanders 3–1 — 2–2 2–2 2–2 9−7−0
N.Y. Rangers 0–3–1 2–2 — 1–2–1 2–2 5−9−2
Philadelphia 2–2 2–2 2–1–1 — 2–0–2 8−5−3
Washington 0–3–1 2–2 2–2 0–2–2 — 4−9−3

Vs. Smythe Division

1979–80 NHL records
Team CHI COL EDM STL VAN WIN Total
Atlanta 0−2−2 4−0 2−1−1 3−1 2−2 4−0 15−6−3
N.Y. Islanders 2−1−1 3−1 1−2−1 3−1 1−2−1 2−0−2 12−7−5
N.Y. Rangers 1−2−1 1−1−2 3−1 4−0 4−0 2−2 15−6−3
Philadelphia 2–0–2 2–1–1 3–0−1 2−0−2 3−1 4−0 16−2−6
Washington 2−2 1−1−2 1−3 2−2 3−1 3−0−1 12−9−3

Vs. Wales Conference

Vs. Adams Division

1979–80 NHL records
Team BOS BUF MIN QUE TOR Total
Atlanta 0–4 0–3–1 1–1–2 3–0–1 1–3 5–11–4
N.Y. Islanders 1–3 1–2–1 0–2–2 4–0 3–1 9–8–3
N.Y. Rangers 2–2 1–2–1 1–2–1 2–1–1 2–2 8–9–3
Philadelphia 1–1–2 3–0–1 3–1 3–0–1 1–1–2 11–3–6
Washington 1–2–1 0–4 0–3–1 1–1–2 1–3 3–13–4

Vs. Norris Division

1979–80 NHL records
Team DET HFD LAK MTL PIT Total
Atlanta 2–1–1 1–3 2–1–1 0–3–1 1–2–1 6–10–4
N.Y. Islanders 1–3 3–1 2–1–1 3–0–1 0–1–3 9–6–5
N.Y. Rangers 3–1 2–1–1 3–1 0–3–1 2–2 10–8–2
Philadelphia 3–0–1 2–0–2 4–0 1–2–1 3–0–1 13–2–5
Washington 1–2–1 2–1–1 3–1 1–2–1 1–3 8–9–3


Schedule and results

1979-80 Game Log
October: 4-4-1 (Home: 3-1-1; Road: 1-3-0)
Game October Opponent Score Record
1 10 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 6 – 3 1–0–0
2 14 Washington Capitals 5 – 3 1–1–0
3 18 Vancouver Canucks 6 – 3 2–1–0
4 20 @ Montreal Canadiens 5 – 4 2–2–0
5 21 Pittsburgh Penguins 6 – 3 3–2–0
6 24 Edmonton Oilers 10 – 2 4–2–0
7 25 @ Philadelphia Flyers 5 – 2 4–3–0
8 27 @ Minnesota North Stars 7 – 2 4–4–0
9 28 Hartford Whalers 2 – 2 4–4–1
November: 5-9-1 (Home: 4-3-1; Road: 1-6-0)
Game November Opponent Score Record
10 1 @ Los Angeles Kings 4 – 2 4–5–1
11 3 @ Colorado Rockies 7 – 2 4–6–1
12 4 @ Vancouver Canucks 4 – 2 5–6–1
13 7 Los Angeles Kings 8 – 4 6–6–1
14 10 Quebec Nordiques 5 – 4 7–6–1
15 11 Pittsburgh Penguins 4 – 1 7–7–1
16 13 @ New York Islanders 10 – 5 7–8–1
17 14 Detroit Red Wings 3 – 2 8–8–1
18 16 @ Atlanta Flames 4 – 2 8–9–1
19 18 St. Louis Blues 5 – 3 9–9–1
20 21 Winnipeg Jets 6 – 4 9–10–1
21 24 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 5 – 3 9–11–1
22 25 Toronto Maple Leafs 4 – 3 9–12–1
23 28 Minnesota North Stars 4 – 4 9–12–2
24 29 @ Buffalo Sabres 2 – 1 9–13–2
December: 8-2-3 (Home: 3-1-3; Road: 5-1-0)
Game December Opponent Score Record
25 1 @ St. Louis Blues 2 – 0 10–13–2
26 3 Montreal Canadiens 3 – 3 10–13–3
27 5 Chicago Black Hawks 3 – 3 10–13–4
28 7 @ Hartford Whalers 7 – 4 11–13–4
29 9 New York Islanders 5 – 4 12–13–4
30 11 @ Detroit Red Wings 2 – 1 13–13–4
31 12 @ Chicago Black Hawks 5 – 2 14–13–4
32 15 @ Washington Capitals 5 – 4 14–14–4
33 16 Philadelphia Flyers 1 – 1 14–14–5
34 19 Vancouver Canucks 5 – 3 15–14–5
35 22 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 4 – 3 16–14–5
36 23 Boston Bruins 4 – 3 16–15–5
37 30 Washington Capitals 5 – 2 17–15–5
January: 6-5-4 (Home: 2-2-2; Road: 4-3-2)
Game January Opponent Score Record
38 2 @ Quebec Nordiques 3 – 3 17–15–6
39 4 Philadelphia Flyers 5 – 3 17–16–6
40 6 Atlanta Flames 5 – 5 17–16–7
41 7 Hartford Whalers 5 – 2 18–16–7
42 9 @ Detroit Red Wings 4 – 0 18–17–7
43 11 @ Edmonton Oilers 6 – 2 19–17–7
44 12 @ Winnipeg Jets 3 – 0 20–17–7
45 14 Colorado Rockies 6 – 6 20–17–8
46 16 Winnipeg Jets 4 – 1 21–17–8
47 19 @ Boston Bruins 6 – 3 21–18–8
48 20 Chicago Black Hawks 2 – 1 21–19–8
49 22 @ Los Angeles Kings 5 – 4 22–19–8
50 23 @ Vancouver Canucks 6 – 4 23–19–8
51 27 @ Colorado Rockies 3 – 3 23–19–9
52 31 @ Buffalo Sabres 6 – 2 23–20–9
February: 6-5-0 (Home: 4-1-0; Road: 2-4-0)
Game February Opponent Score Record
53 2 @ Washington Capitals 6 – 3 24–20–9
54 3 @ Quebec Nordiques 5 – 4 24–21–9
55 10 Quebec Nordiques 3 – 1 25–21–9
56 13 @ Chicago Black Hawks 3 – 1 25–22–9
57 17 Toronto Maple Leafs 6 – 4 25–23–9
58 18 @ Hartford Whalers 6 – 4 25–24–9
59 20 Edmonton Oilers 4 – 1 26–24–9
60 23 @ Minnesota North Stars 6 – 3 26–25–9
61 24 New York Islanders 8 – 2 27–25–9
62 27 Los Angeles Kings 5 – 4 28–25–9
63 28 @ Boston Bruins 5 – 2 29–25–9
March: 8-5-1 (Home: 6-1-1; Road: 2-4-0)
Game March Opponent Score Record
64 2 Boston Bruins 2 – 1 30–25–9
65 5 Buffalo Sabres 4 – 2 31–25–9
66 8 @ Montreal Canadiens 5 – 2 31–26–9
67 9 Minnesota North Stars 4 – 2 32–26–9
68 12 Colorado Rockies 6 – 0 33–26–9
69 15 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 8 – 4 34–26–9
70 16 St. Louis Blues 5 – 2 35–26–9
71 19 @ Edmonton Oilers 4 – 2 35–27–9
72 21 @ Winnipeg Jets 4 – 2 35–28–9
73 23 Montreal Canadiens 6 – 1 35–29–9
74 25 Buffalo Sabres 3 – 3 35–29–10
75 28 @ Atlanta Flames 4 – 2 35–30–10
76 29 @ St. Louis Blues 4 – 3 36–30–10
77 31 Detroit Red Wings 7 – 5 37–30–10
April: 1-2-0 (Home: 0-1-0; Road: 1-1-0)
Game April Opponent Score Record
78 2 Atlanta Flames 7 – 3 37–31–10
79 5 @ New York Islanders 2 – 1 37–32–10
80 6 @ Philadelphia Flyers 8 – 3 38–32–10

Playoffs

Key:   Win   Loss

1980 Stanley Cup playoffs
Preliminary round: vs. Atlanta Flames – New York Rangers win series 3-1
# Date Visitor Score Home OT Series
1 April 8 Atlanta Flames 1 – 2 New York Rangers OT New York Rangers lead series 1-0
2 April 9 Atlanta Flames 1 – 5 New York Rangers New York Rangers lead series 2-0
3 April 11 New York Rangers 2 – 4 Atlanta Flames New York Rangers lead series 2-1
4 April 12 New York Rangers 5 – 2 Atlanta Flames New York Rangers win series 3-1
Quarter-finals: vs. Philadelphia Flyers – Philadelphia wins series 4-1
# Date Visitor Score Home OT Series
1 April 16 New York Rangers 1 – 2 Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia leads series 1-0
2 April 17 New York Rangers 1 – 4 Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia leads series 2-0
3 April 19 Philadelphia Flyers 3 – 0 New York Rangers Philadelphia leads series 3-0
4 April 20 Philadelphia Flyers 2 – 4 New York Rangers Philadelphia leads series 3-1
5 April 22 New York Rangers 1 – 3 Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia wins series 4-1

Player statistics

Skaters
Regular Season
Player GP G A Pts +/- PIM
Phil Esposito 80 34 44 78 -13 73
Don Maloney 79 25 48 73 -15 97
Anders Hedberg 80 32 39 71 13 21
Steve Vickers 75 29 33 62 20 38
Barry Beck† 61 14 45 59 16 98
Ron Greschner 76 21 37 58 -11 103
Ulf Nilsson 50 14 44 58 15 20
Ron Duguay 73 28 22 50 -6 37
Don Murdoch‡ 56 23 19 42 -11 16
Walt Tkaczuk 76 12 25 37 19 36
Dave Maloney 77 12 25 37 10 186
Ed Johnstone 78 14 21 35 3 60
Mario Marois 79 8 23 31 0 142
Dean Talafous 55 10 20 30 1 26
Carol Vadnais 66 3 20 23 -1 118
Warren Miller 55 7 6 13 -6 17
Claude Larose 25 4 7 11 -5 2
Doug Sulliman 31 4 7 11 0 2
Tim Bothwell 45 4 6 10 -3 20
Mike McEwen‡ 9 1 7 8 3 8
Jocelyn Guevremont 20 2 5 7 -12 6
Pat Conacher 17 0 5 5 -10 4
Lucien DeBlois‡ 6 3 1 4 -1 7
Pat Hickey‡ 7 2 2 4 -1 10
Cam Connor† 12 0 3 3 3 37
Ray Markham 14 1 1 2 -3 21
Frank Beaton 23 1 1 2 -5 43
Ed Hospodar 20 0 1 1 -2 76
Andre Dore 2 0 0 0 -1 0
Dave Silk 2 0 0 0 1 0
Jim Mayer 4 0 0 0 1 0
Bill Lochead 7 0 0 0 -5 4
Playoffs
Player GP G A Pts PIM
Ron Duguay 9 5 2 7 11
Ulf Nilsson 9 0 6 6 2
Ron Greschner 9 0 6 6 10
Phil Esposito 9 3 3 6 8
Barry Beck 9 1 4 5 6
Anders Hedberg 9 3 2 5 7
Steve Vickers 9 2 2 4 4
Don Maloney 9 0 4 4 10
Carol Vadnais 9 1 2 3 6
Dean Talafous 5 1 2 3 9
Dave Maloney 8 2 1 3 8
Mario Marois 9 0 2 2 8
Ed Hospodar 7 1 0 1 42
Ray Markham 7 1 0 1 24
Pat Conacher 3 0 1 1 2
Warren Miller 6 1 0 1 0
Ed Johnstone 9 0 1 1 25
Walt Tkaczuk 7 0 1 1 2
Cam Connor 2 0 0 0 2
Tim Bothwell 9 0 0 0 8

Goaltenders

Goaltenders
Regular Season
Player GP TOI W L T GA GAA SO
John Davidson 41 2306 20 15 4 122 3.17 2
Steve Baker 27 1391 9 8 6 79 3.41 1
Wayne Thomas 12 668 4 7 0 44 3.95 0
Doug Soetaert 8 435 5 2 0 33 4.55 0
Playoffs
Player GP TOI W L GA GAA SO
John Davidson 9 541 4 5 21 2.33 0

†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.

[4]

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;

Draft picks

New York's picks at the 1979 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, Canada.

Round # Player Position Nationality College/Junior/Club team (League)
1 13 Doug Sulliman LW  Canada Kitchener Rangers (OHA)
2 34 Ed Hospodar D  United States Ottawa 67's (OHA)
4 76 Pat Conacher C  Canada Saskatoon Blades (WCHL)
5 97 Dan Makuch RW  Canada Clarkson University (NCAA)
6 118 Stan Adams C  Canada Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA)

Awards and records

Transactions

Farm teams

References

  1. ^ "Thin Ice: A Season in Hell with the New York Rangers" (review), Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 1982. Retrieved April 9, 2021
  2. ^ Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 152. ISBN 9781894801225.
  3. ^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  4. ^ "1979-80 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved August 8, 2010.

External links

  • Rangers on Hockey Database
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Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship