Top Moments of 2019-20: Tony DeAngelo’s Historic Night in New York

It’s not often that fans get to experience a historic performance and to witness it done on home ice at Madison Square Garden makes it a little more special. There are only a handful of defensemen in NHL history that had the kind of game that Tony DeAngelo had on January 9, 2020 against the New Jersey Devils. That performance included three goals, two assists, seven shots on goal, and a plus-3 rating in 20:09 of total ice time.

DeAngelo played a part in all but one of the Rangers’ goals that night as he added the go-ahead goal and an insurance marker late in the second period against MacKenzie Blackwood.

Just to add a little perspective to DeAngelo’s accomplishment, the only defensemen to ever finish a single game with at least three goals, five points and seven shots on goal are Paul Coffey, Denis Potvin, Rob Blake, Guy Lapointe, Bobby Orr (x3), Reed Larson, and now Tony DeAngelo. According to the NHL’s database, the last player to accomplish such a task was Rob Blake during the 2000-01 season against the New York Rangers.

Tony DeAngelo had a memorable 2019-20 campaign for the Rangers as he established career highs across the board in goals, assists and points. The Rangers are probably kicking themselves for not locking up DeAngelo on a long-term deal this past summer, but they will happily make some adjustments to keep him in the fold for the foreseeable future.