1976–77 New York Rangers season

The 1976–77 New York Rangers season was the franchise's 51st season. The Rangers placed fourth in the Patrick Division and did not qualify for the playoffs. The Rangers had a better regular season record than two playoff teams and the league would change the rules in the following season to place the top twelve teams in the playoffs, regardless of division.

1976–77 New York Rangers
Division	4th Patrick
Conference	5th Campbell
1976–77 record	29–37–14
Home record	17–18–5
Road record	12–19–9
Goals for	272
Goals against	310
Team information
General manager	John Ferguson
Coach	John Ferguson
Captain	Phil Esposito
Alternate captains	None
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Phil Esposito (34)
Assists	Rod Gilbert (48)
Points	Phil Esposito (80)
Penalty minutes	Nick Fotiu (174)
Wins	John Davidson (14)
Goals against average	Doug Soetaert (2.95)
← 1975–76 1977–78 →

Regular season

Season standings

Patrick Division

	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts
Philadelphia Flyers	80	48	16	16	323	213	112
New York Islanders	80	47	21	12	288	193	106
Atlanta Flames	80	34	34	12	264	265	80
New York Rangers	80	29	37	14	272	310	72

^[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. Campbell Conference Vs. Wales Conference Vs. Patrick Division 1976–77 NHL records Team ATL NYI NYR PHI Total Atlanta — 0–6 4–1–1 2–2–2 6–9–3 N.Y. Islanders 6–0 — 4–1–1 3–2–1 13–3–2 N.Y. Rangers 1–4–1 1–4–1 — 0–2–4 2–10–6 Philadelphia 2–2–2 2–3–1 2–0–4 — 6–5–7 Vs. Smythe Division 1976–77 NHL records Team CHI COL MIN STL VAN Total Atlanta 3–2 3–1–1 2–1–2 4–1 1–3–1 13–8–4 N.Y. Islanders 3–1–1 5–0 3–1–1 3–1–1 4–1 18–4–3 N.Y. Rangers 2–2–1 3–1–1 5–0 2–2–1 3–2 15–7–3 Philadelphia 3–0–2 5–0 3–0–2 5–0 4–0–1 20–0–5 Vs. Adams Division 1976–77 NHL records Team BOS BUF CLE TOR Total Atlanta 2–2 1–2–1 1–2–1 1–4 5–10–2 N.Y. Islanders 2–1–1 3–1–1 3–0–1 1–2–1 9–4–4 N.Y. Rangers 0–4–1 0–4 3–0–1 2–1–1 5–9–3 Philadelphia 3–1 2–2 3–1–1 2–1–1 10–5–2 Vs. Norris Division 1976–77 NHL records[2] Team DET LAK MTL PIT WSH Total Atlanta 2–1–1 2–2 0–3–1 3–0–1 3–1 10–7–3 N.Y. Islanders 2–2 2–2 0–4 2–2 1–0–3 7–10–3 N.Y. Rangers 3–1 0–3–1 1–3 1–2–1 2–2 7–11–2 Philadelphia 3–1 4–0 0–4 3–1 2–0–2 12–6–2

Schedule and results

1976–77 regular season[3]
October: 5–7–1 (home: 2–5–0; road: 3–2–1) Game October Opponent Score Record 1 6 Minnesota North Stars 6–5 1–0–0 2 8 @ Colorado Rockies 5–3 2–0–0 3 9 @ St. Louis Blues 2–1 2–1–0 4 12 @ Minnesota North Stars 10–4 3–1–0 5 13 Boston Bruins 5–1 3–2–0 6 16 @ Montreal Canadiens 7–4 3–3–0 7 17 Colorado Rockies 4–3 4–3–0 8 20 Los Angeles Kings 4–2 4–4–0 9 24 Vancouver Canucks 5–4 4–5–0 10 26 @ Cleveland Barons 5–2 5–5–0 11 27 Boston Bruins 4–3 5–6–0 12 30 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 2–2 5–6–1 13 31 Detroit Red Wings 6–5 5–7–1
November: 5–4–3 (home: 2–3–0; road: 3–1–3) Game November Opponent Score Record 14 3 @ Vancouver Canucks 6–1 6–7–1 15 6 @ Los Angeles Kings 3–3 6–7–2 16 10 Washington Capitals 7–5 6–8–2 17 13 Buffalo Sabres 6–2 6–9–2 18 14 Pittsburgh Penguins 5–1 6–10–2 19 17 Chicago Black Hawks 3–2 7–10–2 20 20 @ St. Louis Blues 3–1 7–11–2 21 22 @ Vancouver Canucks 3–2 8–11–2 22 24 @ Philadelphia Flyers 2–2 8–11–3 23 27 @ Detroit Red Wings 5–0 9–11–3 24 28 Minnesota North Stars 4–1 10–11–3 25 30 @ Atlanta Flames 2–2 10–11–4
December: 5–4–6 (home: 3–2–3; road: 2–2–3) Game December Opponent Score Record 26 1 Washington Capitals 4–1 11–11–4 27 4 @ Minnesota North Stars 11–4 12–11–4 28 5 Toronto Maple Leafs 5–5 12–11–5 29 8 St. Louis Blues 4–4 12–11–6 30 11 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 4–1 12–12–6 31 12 Montreal Canadiens 5–2 13–12–6 32 14 @ New York Islanders 4–4 13–12–7 33 16 @ Buffalo Sabres 7–2 13–13–7 34 18 @ Chicago Black Hawks 3–3 13–13–8 35 19 Cleveland Barons 3–2 14–13–8 36 22 Philadelphia Flyers 3–3 14–13–9 37 23 @ Boston Bruins 3–3 14–13–10 38 26 New York Islanders 2–1 14–14–10 39 28 @ Washington Capitals 5–2 15–14–10 40 31 Atlanta Flames 4–2 15–15–10
January: 3–6–3 (home: 2–2–1; road: 1–4–2) Game January Opponent Score Record 41 2 Vancouver Canucks 5–3 16–15–10 42 5 Philadelphia Flyers 4–4 16–15–11 43 7 @ Colorado Rockies 4–4 16–15–12 44 9 Los Angeles Kings 5–4 16–16–12 45 12 @ Atlanta Flames 6–1 16–17–12 46 13 @ Buffalo Sabres 7–5 16–18–12 47 16 @ Chicago Black Hawks 5–2 17–18–12 48 19 @ Cleveland Barons 3–3 17–18–13 49 22 @ Los Angeles Kings 6–0 17–19–13 50 23 @ Vancouver Canucks 6–2 17–20–13 51 27 Pittsburgh Penguins 3–0 17–21–13 52 30 St. Louis Blues 5–2 18–21–13
February: 5–7–0 (home: 3–2–0; road: 2–5–0) Game February Opponent Score Record 53 1 @ Colorado Rockies 5–2 18–22–13 54 3 @ New York Islanders 6–3 18–23–13 55 6 New York Islanders 4–0 19–23–13 56 9 Buffalo Sabres 2–1 19–24–13 57 10 @ Detroit Red Wings 5–4 20–24–13 58 13 Toronto Maple Leafs 8–3 21–24–13 59 17 @ Philadelphia Flyers 7–1 21–25–13 60 19 @ New York Islanders 5–2 21–26–13 61 20 Detroit Red Wings 3–2 22–26–13 62 23 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 5–4 23–26–13 63 26 @ Chicago Black Hawks 2–1 23–27–13 64 27 Montreal Canadiens 8–1 23–28–13
March: 6–7–1 (home: 5–3–1; road: 1–4–0) Game March Opponent Score Record 65 3 Boston Bruins 4–1 23–29–13 66 5 @ Montreal Canadiens 7–2 23–30–13 67 6 Cleveland Barons 4–3 24–30–13 68 9 Minnesota North Stars 6–4 25–30–13 69 10 @ Boston Bruins 10–3 25–31–13 70 12 @ Atlanta Flames 6–3 25–32–13 71 13 Atlanta Flames 5–3 25–33–13 72 16 Philadelphia Flyers 4–4 25–33–14 73 19 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 5–2 26–33–14 74 20 St. Louis Blues 5–3 27–33–14 75 23 Colorado Rockies 5–3 28–33–14 76 25 @ Washington Capitals 7–2 28–34–14 77 27 Chicago Black Hawks 5–3 28–35–14 78 30 Atlanta Flames 4–3 29–35–14
April: 0–2–0 (home: 0–1–0; road: 0–1–0) Game April Opponent Score Record 79 2 @ Philadelphia Flyers 4–1 29–36–14 80 3 New York Islanders 5–2 29–37–14
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season Player GP G A Pts PIM Phil Esposito 80 34 46 80 52 Rod Gilbert 77 27 48 75 50 Ken Hodge 78 21 41 62 43 Don Murdoch 59 32 24 56 47 Steve Vickers 75 22 31 53 26 Walt Tkaczuk 80 12 38 50 38 Carol Vadnais 74 11 37 48 131 Ron Greschner 80 11 36 47 89 Wayne Dillon 78 17 29 46 33 Mike McEwen 80 14 29 43 38 Pat Hickey 80 23 17 40 35 Greg Polis 77 16 23 39 44 Bill Goldsworthy† 61 10 12 22 43 Dave Maloney 66 3 18 21 100 Dave Farrish 80 2 17 19 102 Dan Newman 41 9 8 17 37 Pete Stemkowski 61 2 13 15 8 Nick Fotiu 70 4 8 12 174 Bill Fairbairn‡ 9 1 2 3 0 Mark Heaslip 19 1 0 1 31 Larry Huras 2 0 0 0 0 Larry Sacharuk 2 0 0 0 0 John Bednarski 5 0 0 0 0 Greg Holst 5 0 0 0 0 Nick Beverley‡ 9 0 0 0 2 Doug Jarrett 9 0 0 0 4

Goaltenders

Regular Season

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Gilles Gratton	41	2034	11	18	7	143	4.22	0
John Davidson	39	2116	14	14	6	125	3.54	1
Doug Soetaert	12	570	3	4	1	28	2.95	1
Dave Tataryn	2	80	1	1	0	10	7.50	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 1976 NHL amateur draft in Montreal, Canada.

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	6	Don Murdoch	RW	Canada	Medicine Hat Tigers (WCHL)
2	24	Dave Farrish	D	Canada	Sudbury Wolves (OHA)
3	42	Mike McEwen	D	Canada	Toronto Marlboros (OHA)
4	60	Claude Periard	LW	Canada	Trois-Rivières Draveurs (QMJHL)
5	78	Doug Caines	C	Canada	St. Catharines Black Hawks (OHA)
6	96	Barry Scully	RW	Canada	Kingston Canadians (OHA)
7	112	Remi Levesque	C	Canada	Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)