Mackenzie Skapski’s Rangers run was tiny, strange, and unforgettable.
For a franchise that has built its identity around goaltending, the obvious names usually come first: Henrik Lundqvist, Mike Richter, Ed Giacomin, and Igor Shesterkin. But the best part-time goalie story in Rangers history belongs to someone far less expected. Skapski didn’t spend long in New York, yet his brief NHL cameo turned him into a cult figure.
Drafted by the Rangers in the sixth round of the 2013 NHL Draft after playing for the Kootenay Ice, Skapski spent the start of the 2014-15 season in the ECHL with the Greenville Road Warriors before moving up to the Hartford Wolf Pack. He finished that regular season with a 15-8-4 record, a .914 save percentage, and a 2.40 goals against average.
His NHL opportunity came after Henrik Lundqvist took a puck off his throat and was sidelined for an extended stretch, which pushed Cam Talbot into the starting role. After Talbot started eight straight games, Alain Vigneault decided it was time to give him a break.
That opened the door for Skapski’s first start, on the road against the Buffalo Sabres. It took only 14 seconds for Matt Moulson to beat him and give Buffalo a 1-0 lead.
That was the only blemish of the night. Skapski stopped the next 24 shots he saw and picked up his first NHL win.
He got another shot against Buffalo on March 15, 2015, and this time he delivered a 20-save shutout. That second start would also be his last appearance in the NHL.
Skapski’s Rangers line reads like a bizarre little slice of hockey history: 2-0-0, a .978 save percentage, a 0.50 goals against average, and one shutout. The rest of his pro career was much less tidy.
In Hartford, he posted a .902 save percentage and a 3.05 goals against average in 13 starts. In the ECHL, he had a .901 save percentage and a 3.26 goals against average in 27 games.
His final AHL season in 2016-17 brought a .856 save percentage and a 4.73 goals against average, sending him back to the ECHL.
He did bounce back with solid play in Slovakia, where he recorded a .928 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average in the regular season, then a .932 save percentage and a 1.67 goals against average in the playoffs.
Even with everything that came after, Skapski’s Rangers stint is the one that sticks. A goalie who gave up a goal 14 seconds into his NHL career and then never allowed another one for the rest of it? That’s the kind of weird, perfect little story that lives forever.
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