New York Rangers Trivia
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68 free New York Rangers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Rangers were born because Madison Square Garden's boss wanted a second hockey tenant, they won the Stanley Cup in their second season, and then went 54 years without another one. This New York Rangers trivia quiz covers all of it: Tex Rickard and Conn Smythe, Lester Patrick's turn in goal, the Bread Line, the plane ride to Toronto, the circus that evicted the 1950 Final, the Curse of 1940, the GAG line and the Esposito trade, and the Islanders' "1940!" chant. The 1994 run gets its own stretch of questions: the ex-Oilers, Messier's guarantee, Matteau in double overtime, Leetch's Conn Smythe and the game 7 win over Vancouver. Then it moves through Gretzky, the seven-year drought, King Henrik, Shesterkin, Adam Fox, the retired numbers hanging in the Garden and the roster moves of the 2020s. Easy questions come first in each era; the deep cuts get progressively harder. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the team, its history and its players, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 68 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Madison Square Garden president was awarded the NHL franchise that became the Rangers?
Tex Rickard
Tex Rickard saw how well a tenant team, the Americans, drew in the Garden's first hockey season and wanted a club of his own; the press dubbed it Tex's Rangers, and the name stuck.
Q 02The promoter who founded the Rangers in 1926 had made his name staging which sport?
Boxing
Boxing: he staged Jack Dempsey's biggest fights, among them the first to draw a million dollars at the gate, and wanted hockey of his own once a tenant team proved it could fill his arena.
Q 03The Rangers are one of the NHL's 'Original Six'; which of these clubs is another?
Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks: the name marks the six clubs that made up the league from 1942 until it doubled in 1967, though Chicago and the Rangers had both joined only in 1926.
Q 04Which future Maple Leafs owner assembled the first Rangers roster but was fired before the opening season?
Conn Smythe
Conn Smythe quarrelled with the Garden's hockey boss and was dismissed on the eve of the season; the players he had signed finished first in their division anyway.
Q 05Which 44-year-old Rangers coach took over in goal during a Stanley Cup Final after Lorne Chabot was injured?
Lester Patrick
Lester Patrick, a retired defenceman, strapped on the pads when the opposing coach would not let the Rangers borrow a goalie from the stands; he let in one goal and they won in overtime.
Q 06Whom did the Rangers beat in five games to win their first Stanley Cup?
Montreal Maroons
The Montreal Maroons had home ice for all five games, every one of them at the Montreal Forum, and the Rangers still took the best-of-five with a 2–1 win in the decider.
Q 07Which Rangers centre won the Lady Byng seven times in eight years and was given the trophy to keep?
Frank Boucher
Frank Boucher won it so often that Lady Byng had to donate a second trophy to the league to replace the one he took home; he later coached the Rangers to the 1940 Stanley Cup.
Q 08The Cook brothers, Bill and Bun, and their centre made up which famous early Rangers trio?
The Bread Line
The Bread Line scored every Rangers goal, all five of them, in the Final that brought the club its first Stanley Cup.
Q 09Which American city's team won the Stanley Cup before the Rangers became the first US-based NHL club to do so?
Seattle
Seattle's Metropolitans, champions of the Pacific Coast league, won it in 1917, months before the NHL was founded; the Rangers followed in only their second season.
Q 10Why did the Rangers play their "home" games of the 1950 Stanley Cup Final in Toronto?
The circus was at the Garden
The circus was at the Garden, so two "home" games moved to Toronto and the other five were played in Detroit, where the Rangers lost game seven in double overtime.
Q 11The Rangers beat both of their local rivals outdoors in one week of January 2014 at which venue?
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium hosted both Stadium Series games: the Rangers fell 3–1 behind New Jersey, scored six straight goals to win 7–3, then won 2–1 three nights later.
Q 12The Rangers' 54-year Stanley Cup drought began after they beat which team in the 1940 Final?
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs led the sixth game 2–0 before the Rangers tied it and Bryan Hextall won the Cup in overtime; New York's next title came in 1994.
Q 13Fans of which rival began chanting "1940! 1940!" at the Rangers in the early 1980s?
Islanders
Q 21Which right wing, known as "Mr. Ranger", was the first player to have his number retired by the team?
Rod Gilbert
Rod Gilbert, born in Montreal, once scored four goals in a game at the Forum against his hometown Canadiens; his No. 7 was retired in October 1979.
Q 22Whose No. 1 became the second number retired by the Rangers, in March 1989?
Eddie Giacomin
Eddie Giacomin was claimed off waivers by Detroit in 1975 and days later beat the Rangers 6–4 at the Garden, where the home crowd chanted his name all night.
Q 23Which 1959 league MVP shares the Rangers' retired No. 9 with a star of the 1994 Cup team?
Andy Bathgate
Islanders fans started it while their own team was winning four straight Stanley Cups, and other arenas kept the taunt going until the Rangers finally won in 1994.
Q 14In one version of the Curse of 1940, what did Rangers management burn in the Stanley Cup?
The Garden's mortgage
The Garden's mortgage had just been paid off, and executives burned the paper in the bowl of the Cup, an act some fans later called a desecration of the trophy.
Q 15What nickname did the Rangers pick up during their early years playing blocks from Times Square?
The Broadway Blueshirts
The Broadway Blueshirts took the second half of the name from the solid blue sweaters they wore from their first season, a plain look next to the flag-patterned uniforms of the Garden's other hockey team.
Q 16What did the "GAG" in the Rangers' famous 1970s GAG line stand for?
Goal-a-game
Goal-a-game undersold the line in 1971–72: its three members combined for 139 goals in a 78-game season and finished third, fourth and fifth in NHL scoring.
Q 17Which member of the GAG line was the last of the three to have his number retired, in December 2018?
Vic Hadfield
Vic Hadfield became the first Ranger to score 50 goals in a season by getting his 49th and 50th on the final day of 1971–72.
Q 18Whose 52 goals in 1993–94 set a Rangers single-season record that stood until 2006?
Adam Graves
Adam Graves broke the old club mark of 50 with two goals in Edmonton, against the Oilers team he had won the Stanley Cup with in 1990.
Q 19Which winger broke the Rangers' single-season goal record with his 53rd of 2005–06 against Boston?
Jaromir Jagr
Jaromir Jagr finished the season with 54 goals and 123 points, both club records, yet lost the NHL scoring title to Joe Thornton by two points.
Q 20Whose Rangers single-season points record, 109 in 1971–72, stood until a 123-point season in 2005–06?
Jean Ratelle
Jean Ratelle piled up his 109 points in only 63 games, missing 15 through injury, and the record still lasted 34 years.
Andy Bathgate also changed goaltending: his shot struck Jacques Plante in the face at the Garden in 1959, and Plante came back out wearing the mask he then refused to give up.
Q 24What forced former Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist to retire in 2021?
Heart condition
A heart condition led to open-heart surgery months after he signed with a new team, so he never appeared for any NHL club but the Rangers, who retired his No. 30 in January 2022.
Q 25What nickname did Rangers fans and media give goaltender Lundqvist during his rookie season?
King Henrik
King Henrik began that rookie season as the backup, took over when the starter was injured in the second game, and finished it as a Vezina Trophy finalist.
Q 26Henrik Lundqvist won the Vezina Trophy in 2012, but which rival ended the Rangers' season in the conference finals?
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils won the sixth game in overtime on a goal by rookie Adam Henrique, 18 years after losing a seven-game conference final to the Rangers.
Q 27Henrik Lundqvist backstopped Sweden to Olympic gold in which host city?
Turin
Turin's gold came before he had finished his first NHL season; in Sochi eight years later he and Sweden had to settle for silver.
Q 28In December 2006 Lundqvist first faced his twin brother, who was playing for which team?
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars, with Joel Lundqvist in their lineup, outshot the Rangers 45–20 at home that night, and Henrik still beat his identical twin 5–2.
Q 29In Game 4 of the 1994 Final, Mike Richter stopped a penalty shot by which Russian star?
Pavel Bure
Pavel Bure had scored 60 goals that season, but Richter turned him away, and the Rangers, who had trailed 2–0, came back to win 4–2 and lead the series 3–1.
Q 30Mike Richter played college hockey at which university before joining the Rangers?
Wisconsin
Wisconsin had him for two seasons after the Rangers drafted him 28th overall in 1985, and his first NHL game was a start in the 1989 playoffs.