2001–02 New York Rangers season

2001–02 New York Rangers
2001–02 New York Rangers
Division	4th Atlantic
Conference	11th Eastern
2001–02 record	36–38–4–4
Goals for	227
Goals against	258
Team information
General manager	Glen Sather
Coach	Ron Low
Captain	Mark Messier
Arena	Madison Square Garden
Average attendance	18,038 (99.1%)
Team leaders
Goals	Eric Lindros (37)
Assists	Brian Leetch (45)
Points	Eric Lindros (73)
Penalty minutes	Theoren Fleury (216)
Wins	Mike Richter (24)
Goals against average	Johan Holmqvist (0.00)
	← 2000–01 2002–03 →

The 2001–02 New York Rangers season was the 76th season for the team in the National Hockey League (NHL). During the regular season, the Rangers finished fourth in the Atlantic Division, compiling a 36–38–4–4 record.^[1] Their 11th-place finish in the Eastern Conference kept them out of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fifth straight season.^[2]

Pre-season

On September 20, 2001, in the middle of a 2–2 game between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers, the game was stopped. A message from United States President George W. Bush about the September 11 attacks was broadcast on the arena video screen. After the message, the game did not resume and it was declared a 2–2 tie.^[3]

Regular season

The Rangers struggled in short-handed situations, finishing the regular season with the most power-play opportunities against (398), the most power-play goals allowed (80) and the lowest penalty-kill percentage (79.90%).^[4]

Final standings

Atlantic Division
No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	2	Philadelphia Flyers	82	42	27	10	3	234	192	97
2	5	New York Islanders	82	42	28	8	4	239	220	96
3	6	New Jersey Devils	82	41	28	9	4	205	187	95
4	11	New York Rangers	82	36	38	4	4	227	258	80
5	12	Pittsburgh Penguins	82	28	41	8	5	198	249	69

Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

Eastern Conference^[5]
R		Div	GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Z- Boston Bruins	NE	82	43	24	6	9	236	201	101
2	Y- Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	42	27	10	3	234	192	97
3	Y- Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	35	26	16	5	217	217	91
4	X- Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	43	25	10	4	249	207	100
5	X- New York Islanders	AT	82	42	28	8	4	239	220	96
6	X- New Jersey Devils	AT	82	41	28	9	4	205	187	95
7	X- Ottawa Senators	NE	82	39	27	9	7	243	208	94
8	X- Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	36	31	12	3	207	209	87
8.5
9	Washington Capitals	SE	82	36	33	11	2	228	240	85
10	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	35	35	11	1	213	200	82
11	New York Rangers	AT	82	36	38	4	4	227	258	80
12	Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	28	41	8	5	198	249	69
13	Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	27	40	11	4	178	219	69
14	Florida Panthers	SE	82	22	44	10	6	180	250	60
15	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	19	47	11	5	187	288	54

Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast

Z – Clinched Conference; Y – Clinched Division; X – Clinched Playoff spot

Schedule and results

2001-02 Game Log

October: 6-6-1-0 (Home: 3-3-0-0; Road: 3-3-1-0)

November: 9-3-1-1 (Home: 6-1-0-0; Road: 3-2-1-1)

December: 7-6-1-1 (Home: 4-3-0-1; Road: 3-3-1-0)

January: 3-8-1-1 (Home: 2-2-1-0; Road: 1-6-0-1)

February: 2-4-0-0 (Home: 1-2-0-0; Road: 1-2-0-0)

March: 5-9-0-1 (Home: 2-6-0-0; Road: 3-3-0-1)

April: 4-2-0-0 (Home: 1-1-0-0; Road: 3-1-0-0)

Playoffs

The Rangers failed to qualify for the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs, missing the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.^[2]

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular Season
Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM
Eric Lindros	72	37	36	73	19	138
Theoren Fleury	82	24	39	63	0	216
Mike York^‡	69	18	39	57	8	16
Brian Leetch	82	10	45	55	14	28
Petr Nedved	78	21	25	46	-8	36
Radek Dvorak	65	17	20	37	-20	14
Vladimir Malakhov	81	6	22	28	10	83
Andreas Johansson	70	14	10	24	6	46
Sandy McCarthy	82	10	13	23	-8	171
Mark Messier	41	7	16	23	-1	32
Bryan Berard	82	2	21	23	-1	60
Matthew Barnaby^†	48	8	13	21	-3	144
Pavel Bure^†	12	12	8	20	9	6
Mikael Samuelsson	67	6	10	16	10	23
Manny Malhotra^‡	56	7	6	13	-1	42
Zdeno Ciger^‡	29	6	7	13	-3	16
Martin Rucinsky^†	15	3	10	13	6	6
Jeff Toms^‡	38	7	4	11	-4	10
Dave Karpa	75	1	10	11	-9	131
Tom Poti^†	11	1	7	8	-4	2
Igor Ulanov^‡	39	0	6	6	-4	53
Michal Grosek	15	3	2	5	-3	12
Sylvain Lefebvre	41	0	5	5	-3	23
Tomas Kloucek	52	1	3	4	-2	137
Dale Purinton	40	0	4	4	4	113
Steve McKenna	54	2	1	3	0	144
Rem Murray^†	11	1	2	3	-9	4
Roman Lyashenko^†	15	2	0	2	0	0
Darren Van Impe^‡	17	1	0	1	3	12
Peter Smrek	8	0	1	1	-7	4
Trent Whitfield^†	1	0	0	0	1	0
Jason Dawe	1	0	0	0	-1	0
Mike Mottau	1	0	0	0	0	0
Richard Scott	5	0	0	0	0	5
Rico Fata	10	0	0	0	-2	0
Barrett Heisten	10	0	0	0	-4	2

Goaltenders

Regular Season
Player	GP	TOI	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO
Mike Richter	55	3195	24	26	4	157	2.95	1832	.906	2
Dan Blackburn	31	1737	12	16	0	95	3.28	1030	.898	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.

^[6]

Draft picks

New York's picks at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft in Sunrise, Florida at the National Car Rental Center.^[7]^[8]

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	10	Dan Blackburn	G	Canada	Kootenay Ice (WHL)
2	40	Fedor Tyutin	D	Russia	SKA Saint Petersburg (Russia)
3	79	Garth Murray	C	Canada	Regina Pats (WHL)
4	113	Bryce Lampman	D	United States	Omaha Lancers (USHL)
5	139	Shawn Collymore	RW	Canada	Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
6	176	Marek Zidlicky	D	Czech Republic	HIFK (FNL)
7	206	Petr Preucil	LW	Czech Republic	Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
7	226	Pontus Petterstrom	LW	Sweden	Tingsryds (Sweden)
8	230	Leonid Zvachkin	D	Russia	Podolsk Jr. (Russia)
8	238	Ryan Hollweg	C	United States	Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
9	269	Juris Stals	C	Czech Republic	Lukko (FNL)

References

^ "2001–02 New York Rangers Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
^ ^a ^b Reel, Ursula (April 15, 2002). "Rangers aim higher by firing Low". The Hour. Associated Press. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
^ Hockey’s Book of Firsts, p.71, James Duplacey, JG Press, ISBN 978-1-57215-037-9
^ "2001–02 NHL Season Summary". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
^ "2001–2002 Standings by Conference". nhl.com. National Hockey League. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
^ "2001-02 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
^ "2001 NHL Entry Draft". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
^ "NHL Draft History". National Hockey League. Retrieved August 4, 2012.

[1] "2001–02 New York Rangers Roster and Statistics". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved June 12, 2010.

[Low-2] Reel, Ursula (April 15, 2002). "Rangers aim higher by firing Low". The Hour. Associated Press. Retrieved June 12, 2010.

[3] Hockey’s Book of Firsts, p.71, James Duplacey, JG Press, ISBN 978-1-57215-037-9

[4] "2001–02 NHL Season Summary". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved December 3, 2013.

[conf-5] "2001–2002 Standings by Conference". nhl.com. National Hockey League. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved 2023-01-18.

[6] "2001-02 New York Rangers". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2010-08-02.

[7] "2001 NHL Entry Draft". Hockey-Reference. Retrieved August 4, 2012.

[8] "NHL Draft History". National Hockey League. Retrieved August 4, 2012.

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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 2001–02 NHL season
Atlantic	New Jersey NY Islanders NY Rangers Philadelphia Pittsburgh
Northeast	Boston Buffalo Montreal Ottawa Toronto
Southeast	Atlanta Carolina Florida Tampa Bay Washington
Central	Chicago Columbus Detroit Nashville St. Louis
Northwest	Calgary Colorado Edmonton Minnesota Vancouver
Pacific	Anaheim Dallas Los Angeles Phoenix San Jose
See also	Draft Waiver draft NHL Challenge All-Star Game Death of Brittanie Cecil Playoffs Stanley Cup Finals Transactions