Top 10 New York Rangers goals of all-time

The Rangers are celebrating their centennial season in 2025-26, and they’ve played nearly 7,000 games in their history. They’ve won four Stanley Cups, produced dozens of Hockey Hall of Famers, and of course, scored some goals in that time.

Here are the 10 most memorable goals in Rangers history.

10. Marek Malik's shootout goal

It didn’t count in the season stats, but defenseman Marek Malik’s between-the-legs shot that beat Olaf Kolzig in the 15th round of the shootout on Nov. 26, 2005, won a game for the Rangers against the Washington Capitals in the first season back after the 2004-05 lockout. It came in the first season the NHL used the shootout to break regular-season ties.

9. Bill Cook's 1933 Stanley Cup winnner

Bill Cook scored the lone goal in the 1-0 win over Toronto in the deciding Game 4 of the 1933 Stanley Cup Final, which was a rematch of the 1932 final, won by Toronto. It gave the Rangers their second Cup in five years.

8. Chris Kreider's third-period hat trick

Chris Kreider holds the Rangers record for all-time playoff goals, with 48. He had three in the third period of Game 6 of a second-round playoff game against Carolina in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2024. The Rangers trailed 3-1 entering the third period when Kreider scored bang-bang-bang to give them the lead. They won, 5-3, to clinch the series and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

7. Pete Stemkowski's 3-OT winner

Pete Stemkowski’s triple-overtime effort against Chicago in Game 6 of their 1971 playoff series forced Game 7. The game lasted 4 hours, 23 minutes and ended at 11:58 p.m. Unfortunately, the Rangers lost Game 7.

6. Ron Greschner's Game 6 winner

Goalie John Davidson’s heroics are what most folks remember about Game 6 of the NHL semifinal series between the Rangers and the favored Islanders in 1979, but it was Ron Greschner’s power-play goal at 8:45 of the second period that ended up being the game and series winner to send the Rangers on to the Final.

5. Martin St. Louis on Mother's Day 

Three days after losing his mother to a heart attack, Martin St. Louis scored the first goal for the Rangers in a 5-1 win over Pittsburgh on Mother’s Day in 2014. The Rangers had trailed in the series, three games to one, but came back to win the series and advance to the Eastern Conference finals against Montreal.

4. Bryan Hextall's Cup winner in 1940

Bryan Hextall’s OT goal in Game 6 gave the Rangers a 3-2 win and the series win in Game 6 of the 1940 Stanley Cup Final over the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was their third Cup in 12 years, and their last until 1994.

3. Mark Messier delivers on guarantee

Down 3-2 in the Eastern Conference finals against the Devils in 1994 and heading to New Jersey for Game 6, captain Mark Messier guaranteed a win to force a Game 7 back at the Garden. And he delivered a third-period hat trick to rally the Rangers to a 4-2 win in a game where they trailed 2-0 after the first period. Alexei Kovalev’s goal late in the second period gave the Rangers life, and Messier tied it, 2-2, with a backhander at 2:48 of the third period. He added the game-winner and an empty-netter for insurance.

2. Frank Boucher in 1928 Cup final

Frank Boucher’s goal at 13:13 of the second period gave the Rangers a 1-0 win over the Montreal Maroons in Game 4 of the 1928 Stanley Cup Final, forcing Game 5 in the best-of-five series. Boucher then scored both goals in the Rangers’ 2-1 win in Game 5, giving them their first Stanley Cup in their second year of existence.

1. Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!

Stephane Matteau’s double-overtime wraparound goal against Martin Brodeur and the Devils in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals didn’t actually win the 1994 Stanley Cup for the Rangers, but as the Rangers and Devils were the two best teams in the league that season, everyone believed the winner of the series would beat Vancouver and win the Cup. And, of course, the Rangers did. Few people remember that it was Alexei Kovalev’s power-play goal in Game 7 that was the Cup winner. Instead, it was Matteau’s goal that remains the lasting image of that drought-ending Cup run.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.