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December 28 in NYR history: A first in international hockey

Goalie John Davidson #30 of the New York Rangers(Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

On this date the New York Rangers became the first NHL team to play a team from the Soviet Union

What happened on December 28th in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 1975, the New York Rangers played the Moscow Red Army team and became the first NHL squad to take on a team from the Russian league. It didn’t end well as the Rangers lost 7-3. The game was played in front of a capacity crowd of 17, 500 at Madison Square Garden and there was an awful lot of excitement when Steve Vickers scored just 21 seconds into the game.