1985–86 New York Rangers season

1985–86 New York Rangers
1985–86 New York Rangers
Division	4th Patrick
Conference	Wales
1985–86 record	34–38–8
Home record	20–18–2
Road record	16–20–4
Goals for	280
Goals against	276
Team information
General manager	Craig Patrick
Coach	Ted Sator
Captain	Barry Beck
Alternate captains	Ron Greschner; Tom Laidlaw
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Tomas Sandström (25)
Assists	Mike Ridley (43)
Points	Mike Ridley (65)
Penalty minutes	Bob Brooke (111)
Wins	John Vanbiesbrouck (31)
Goals against average	John Vanbiesbrouck (3.32)
	← 1984–85 1986–87 →

The 1985–86 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 60th season. The highlight of the season was participating in the Prince of Wales Conference Finals.

Regular season

Final standings

Patrick Division
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Philadelphia Flyers	80	53	23	4	335	241	110
Washington Capitals	80	50	23	7	315	272	107
New York Islanders	80	39	29	12	327	284	90
New York Rangers	80	36	38	6	280	276	78
Pittsburgh Penguins	80	34	38	8	313	305	76
New Jersey Devils	80	28	49	3	300	374	59

^[1]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. Wales Conference

Vs. Patrick Division

1985–86 NHL records^[2]
Team	NJD	NYI	NYR	PHI	PIT	WSH	Total
New Jersey	—	2−5	2−5	3−4	2−4−1	1−6	10−24−1
N.Y. Islanders	5−2	—	3−3−1	4−3	5−1−1	3−4	20−13−2
N.Y. Rangers	5−2	3−3−1	—	1−6	2−4−1	3−3−1	14−18−3
Philadelphia	4−3	3−4	6−1	—	6−0−1	5−2	24−10−1
Pittsburgh	4−2−1	1−5−1	4−2−1	0–6−1	—	1−6	10−21−4
Washington	6−1	4−3	3−3−1	2–5	6−1	—	21−13−1

Vs. Adams Division

1985–86 NHL records
Team	BOS	BUF	HFD	MTL	QUE	Total
New Jersey	0−3	1−2	1−2	1−2	2−1	5−10−0
N.Y. Islanders	1−0−2	1−2	2−1	1−2	1−2	6−7−2
N.Y. Rangers	2−1	0−3	1−2	2−0−1	0−2−1	5−8−2
Philadelphia	2−1	1−2	3−0	2−1	1−1−1	9−5−1
Pittsburgh	1−2	2−0−1	1−2	0−2−1	1−1−1	5−7−3
Washington	2−0−1	1−1−1	2−0−1	2−0−1	3−0	10−1−4

Vs. Campbell Conference

Vs. Norris Division

1985–86 NHL records
Team	CHI	DET	MIN	STL	TOR	Total
New Jersey	2−1	2−0−1	1−2	1−2	1−2	7−7−1
N.Y. Islanders	0−2−1	3−0	0−2−1	1−1−1	3−0	7−5−3
N.Y. Rangers	0−3	3−0	1−2	1−1−1	2−1	7−7−1
Philadelphia	2−0−1	2−1	2−0−1	2−1	2−1	10−3−2
Pittsburgh	1−1−1	2−1	3−0	2−1	3−0	11−3−1
Washington	2−1	2−1	2−1	3−0	2−1	11−4−0

Vs. Smythe Division

1985–86 NHL records
Team	CGY	EDM	LAK	VAN	WIN	Total
New Jersey	0−2−1	0−3	2−1	2−1	2−1	6−8−1
N.Y. Islanders	1−1−1	0−1−2	2−1	1−1−1	2−0−1	6−4−5
N.Y. Rangers	1−2	2−1	2−1	3−0	2−1	10−5−0
Philadelphia	2−1	1−2	3−0	2−1	2−1	10−5−0
Pittsburgh	1−2	1−2	2−1	2−1	2−1	8−7−0
Washington	0−3	3−0	2−1	2−0−1	1−1−1	8−5−2

Schedule and results

1985–86 regular season^[3]

October: 5–4–0 (home: 5–1–0; road: 0–3–0)

Game	October	Opponent	Score	Record
1	10	Washington Capitals	4 – 2	1–0–0
2	12	@ Hartford Whalers	8 – 2	1–1–0
3	13	New Jersey Devils	3 – 2 OT	1–2–0
4	16	@ Los Angeles Kings	4 – 3	1–3–0
5	19	@ New York Islanders	5 – 4	1–4–0
6	20	Vancouver Canucks	4 – 3	2–4–0
7	23	New Jersey Devils	5 – 1	3–4–0
8	25	Los Angeles Kings	5 – 0	4–4–0
9	27	Boston Bruins	2 – 1	5–4–0

November: 6–8–1 (home: 2–5–0; road: 4–3–1)

Game	November	Opponent	Score	Record
10	2	@ New Jersey Devils	6 – 5 OT	5–5–0
11	4	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	4 – 2	6–5–0
12	6	Philadelphia Flyers	5 – 2	6–6–0
13	8	@ Winnipeg Jets	7 – 3	7–6–0
14	9	@ Minnesota North Stars	4 – 3 OT	7–7–0
15	11	Chicago Black Hawks	5 – 4 OT	7–8–0
16	13	Montreal Canadiens	5 – 2	8–8–0
17	16	@ Montreal Canadiens	2 – 2 OT	8–8–1
18	17	Edmonton Oilers	3 – 2 OT	8–9–1
19	20	Toronto Maple Leafs	7 – 3	9–9–1
20	23	@ New York Islanders	5 – 0	10–9–1
21	24	New York Islanders	4 – 3 OT	10–10–1
22	27	Calgary Flames	5 – 2	10–11–1
23	29	@ Washington Capitals	5 – 2	11–11–1
24	30	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	5 – 4	11–12–1

December: 6–7–1 (home: 4–3–1; road: 2–4–0)

Game	December	Opponent	Score	Record
25	2	Pittsburgh Penguins	6 – 0	11–13–1
26	4	Winnipeg Jets	7 – 4	12–13–1
27	7	@ Philadelphia Flyers	4 – 0	12–14–1
28	8	Philadelphia Flyers	3 – 1	13–14–1
29	11	@ New Jersey Devils	4 – 2	14–14–1
30	14	@ Boston Bruins	4 – 2	14–15–1
31	15	Pittsburgh Penguins	5 – 2	14–16–1
32	18	Buffalo Sabres	5 – 4	14–17–1
33	20	New York Islanders	2 – 2 OT	14–17–2
34	21	@ New York Islanders	5 – 4	15–17–2
35	23	Detroit Red Wings	10 – 2	16–17–2
36	26	@ Buffalo Sabres	6 – 1	16–18–2
37	28	@ Minnesota North Stars	3 – 1	16–19–2
38	29	Washington Capitals	6 – 5	17–19–2

January: 5–6–2 (home: 1–3–1; road: 4–3–1)

Game	January	Opponent	Score	Record
39	1	@ Washington Capitals	3 – 0	17–20–2
40	5	Quebec Nordiques	5 – 4	17–21–2
41	10	Montreal Canadiens	6 – 4	18–21–2
42	12	St. Louis Blues	2 – 2 OT	18–21–3
43	14	@ Vancouver Canucks	2 – 1	19–21–3
44	15	@ Los Angeles Kings	4 – 3	20–21–3
45	18	@ Edmonton Oilers	5 – 4	21–21–3
46	20	Hartford Whalers	5 – 0	21–22–3
47	22	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	4 – 2	22–22–3
48	23	Quebec Nordiques	4 – 0	22–23–3
49	27	@ Quebec Nordiques	6 – 6 OT	22–23–4
50	29	@ Chicago Black Hawks	5 – 4	22–24–4
51	31	@ Buffalo Sabres	5 – 3	22–25–4

February: 8–2–0 (home: 5–0–0; road: 3–2–0)

Game	February	Opponent	Score	Record
52	1	@ Hartford Whalers	3 – 1	23–25–4
53	5	@ St. Louis Blues	4 – 3	23–26–4
54	8	@ Boston Bruins	3 – 2	24–26–4
55	12	Vancouver Canucks	5 – 2	25–26–4
56	14	@ Detroit Red Wings	7 – 5	26–26–4
57	16	Detroit Red Wings	3 – 1	27–26–4
58	20	St. Louis Blues	3 – 2	28–26–4
59	24	Minnesota North Stars	5 – 1	29–26–4
60	25	@ Toronto Maple Leafs	7 – 3	29–27–4
61	27	Pittsburgh Penguins	8 – 3	30–27–4

March: 6–9–1 (home: 3–4–0; road: 3–5–1)

Game	March	Opponent	Score	Record
62	1	@ Washington Capitals	4 – 0	30–28–4
63	2	Washington Capitals	4 – 2	30–29–4
64	5	@ Winnipeg Jets	4 – 1	30–30–4
65	6	@ Calgary Flames	5 – 2	31–30–4
66	9	Philadelphia Flyers	4 – 1	31–31–4
67	11	@ New Jersey Devils	6 – 3	32–31–4
68	12	Calgary Flames	3 – 2	32–32–4
69	15	@ Pittsburgh Penguins	2 – 2 OT	32–32–5
70	16	New York Islanders	3 – 1	33–32–5
71	18	@ New York Islanders	6 – 2	33–33–5
72	22	@ Philadelphia Flyers	4 – 2	33–34–5
73	23	Chicago Black Hawks	5 – 3	33–35–5
74	25	@ New Jersey Devils	5 – 4	34–35–5
75	28	Edmonton Oilers	4 – 2	35–35–5
76	29	@ Philadelphia Flyers	8 – 2	35–36–5
77	31	New Jersey Devils	9 – 0	36–36–5

April: 0–2–1 (home: 0–2–0; road: 0–0–1)

Game	April	Opponent	Score	Record
78	2	Philadelphia Flyers	3 – 2	36–37–5
79	5	@ Washington Capitals	4 – 4 OT	36–37–6
80	6	Pittsburgh Penguins	5 – 4 OT	36–38–6

Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point)

Playoffs

1986 Stanley Cup playoffs^[3]

Division semifinals vs. (P1) Philadelphia Flyers – Rangers win 3–2

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Series
1	April 9	New York Rangers	6 – 2	Philadelphia Flyers	New York Rangers lead series 1-0
2	April 10	New York Rangers	1 – 2	Philadelphia Flyers	Series tied 1-1
3	April 12	Philadelphia Flyers	2 – 5	New York Rangers	New York Rangers lead series 2-1
4	April 13	Philadelphia Flyers	7 – 1	New York Rangers	Series tied 2-2
5	April 15	New York Rangers	5 – 2	Philadelphia Flyers	New York Rangers win series 3-2

Division Finals vs. (P2) Washington Capitals – Rangers win 4–2

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	April 17	New York Rangers	4 – 3	Washington Capitals	OT	New York Rangers lead series 1-0
2	April 19	New York Rangers	1 – 8	Washington Capitals		Series tied 1-1
3	April 21	Washington Capitals	6 – 3	New York Rangers		Washington leads series 2-1
4	April 23	Washington Capitals	5 – 6	New York Rangers	OT	Series tied 2-2
5	April 25	New York Rangers	4 – 2	Washington Capitals		New York Rangers lead series 3-2
6	April 27	Washington Capitals	1 – 2	New York Rangers		New York Rangers win series 4-2

Conference Finals vs. (A2) Montreal Canadiens – Montreal wins 4–1

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Series
1	May 1	New York Rangers	1 – 2	Montreal Canadiens		Montreal leads series 1-0
2	May 3	New York Rangers	2 – 6	Montreal Canadiens		Montreal leads series 2-0
3	May 5	Montreal Canadiens	4 – 3	New York Rangers	OT	Montreal leads series 3-0
4	May 7	Montreal Canadiens	0 – 2	New York Rangers		Montreal leads series 3-1
5	May 9	New York Rangers	1 – 3	Montreal Canadiens		Montreal wins series 4-1

Legend: Win Loss

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
Mike Ridley	80	22	43	65	0	69
Reijo Ruotsalainen	80	17	42	59	22	47
Tomas Sandstrom	73	25	29	54	-4	109
Ron Greschner	78	20	28	48	9	104
Bob Brooke	79	24	20	44	6	111
James Patrick	75	14	29	43	14	88
Mark Pavelich	59	20	20	40	-3	82
Mark Osborne	62	16	24	40	5	80
Raimo Helminen	66	10	30	40	-1	10
Kelly Miller	74	13	20	33	3	52
Brian MacLellan^†	51	11	21	32	-20	47
Don Maloney	68	11	17	28	18	56
Pierre Larouche	28	20	7	27	-6	4
Peter Sundstrom	53	8	15	23	7	12
Jan Erixon	31	2	17	19	12	4
Tom Laidlaw	68	6	12	18	-3	103
Willie Huber	70	7	8	15	-11	85
Mike Allison	28	2	13	15	4	22
Barry Beck	25	4	8	12	7	24
Grant Ledyard^‡	27	2	9	11	-7	20
Dave Gagner	32	4	6	10	1	19
Larry Melnyk^†	46	1	8	9	2	65
George McPhee	30	4	4	8	5	63
Steve Patrick^‡	28	4	3	7	-7	37
Mike McEwen^‡	16	2	5	7	-4	8
Wilf Paiement^†	8	1	6	7	2	13
Rob Whistle	32	4	2	6	-1	10
Chris Jensen	9	1	3	4	1	0
Mike Rogers^‡	9	1	3	4	2	2
Jim Wiemer	7	3	0	3	0	2
Bob Crawford^†	11	1	2	3	2	10
Steve Richmond^‡	17	0	2	2	2	63
Randy Heath	1	0	1	1	1	0
Kjell Samuelsson	9	0	0	0	-1	10
Tony Feltrin	10	0	0	0	-3	21

Playoffs
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Pierre Larouche	16	8	9	17	2
Bob Brooke	16	6	9	15	28
Mike Ridley	16	6	8	14	26
Wilf Paiement	16	5	5	10	45
Tomas Sandstrom	16	4	6	10	20
Reijo Ruotsalainen	16	0	8	8	6
Kelly Miller	16	3	4	7	4
Brian MacLellan	16	2	4	6	15
James Patrick	16	1	5	6	34
Willie Huber	16	3	2	5	16
Mark Osborne	15	2	3	5	26
Ron Greschner	5	3	1	4	11
Larry Melnyk	16	1	2	3	46
Don Maloney	16	2	1	3	31
Mike Allison	16	0	2	2	38
Tom Laidlaw	7	0	2	2	12
Kjell Samuelsson	9	0	1	1	8
Bob Crawford	7	0	1	1	8
Jim Wiemer	8	1	0	1	6
Jan Erixon	12	0	1	1	4
Rob Whistle	3	0	0	0	2
George McPhee	11	0	0	0	32
Peter Sundstrom	1	0	0	0	2
Raimo Helminen	2	0	0	0	0

Goaltenders

Regular Season
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
John Vanbiesbrouck	61	3326	31	21	5	184	3.32	1809	.887	3
Glen Hanlon	23	1170	5	12	1	65	3.33	673	.893	0
Terry Kleisinger	4	191	0	2	0	14	4.40	123	.872	0
Ron Scott	4	156	0	3	0	11	4.23	67	.804	0

Playoffs
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
John Vanbiesbrouck	16	899	8	8	49	3.27	477	.897	1
Glen Hanlon	3	75	0	0	6	4.80	32	.813	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 1985 NHL Entry Draft in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	7	Ulf Dahlén	RW	Sweden	Ostersund (Sweden)
2	28	Mike Richter	G	United States	Northwood School (New York)
3	49	Sam Lindstahl	G	Sweden	Södertälje SK (Allsvenskan)
4	70	Pat Janostin	D	Canada	Notre Dame H.S. (Sask.)
5	91	Brad Stepan	LW	Canada	St. Paul Suburban H.S. (Minnesota)
6	112	Brian McReynolds	C	Canada	Orillia Travelways (OHA-A)
7	133	Neil Pilon	D	Canada	Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
8	154	Larry Bernard	LW	Canada	Seattle Breakers (WHL)
9	175	Stephane Brochu	D	Canada	Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
10	196	Steve Nemeth	RW	Canada	Lethbridge Broncos (WHL)
11	217	Robert Burakovsky	RW	Sweden	Leksands IF (Allsvenskan)
12	238	Rudy Poeschek	D	Canada	Kamloops Blazers (WHL)

Awards and records

References

^ Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 153. ISBN 9781894801225.
^ "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
^ ^a ^b "1985-86 New York Rangers Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
^ "1985-86 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved August 8, 2010.

External links

Rangers on Hockey Database

[nhl-gd-standings-1] Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 153. ISBN 9781894801225.

[2] "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.

[Gamelog-3] "1985-86 New York Rangers Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved March 30, 2025.

[4] "1985-86 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved August 8, 2010.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e New York Rangers seasons
1920s	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930s	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940s	1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950s	1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960s	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970s	1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980s	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990s	1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
2000s	2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010s	2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020s	2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Highlighted seasons indicate Stanley Cup championship

v t e 1985–86 NHL season
Patrick	New Jersey NY Islanders NY Rangers Philadelphia Pittsburgh Washington
Adams	Boston Buffalo Hartford Montreal Quebec
Norris	Chicago Detroit Minnesota St. Louis Toronto
Smythe	Calgary Edmonton Los Angeles Vancouver Winnipeg
See also	Draft Waiver draft All-Star Game Monday Night Miracle Stanley Cup playoffs Stanley Cup Finals