Rumors of the scoring problems in New York might be greatly exaggerated, as the Penguins found out the hard way a week ago.

Hosting the Rangers for their third game of the season, the Penguins were blown out 6-1 at PPG Paints Arena, with the Rangers getting contributions from a large chunk of their roster.

Through three away games so far this season, the Rangers have scored 11 goals so far. That’s not bad at all.

Back in the Big Apple, however, things are a different story.

Former Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan could only watch as his new team became the first team in NHL history to not score a goal in their first three home games to start the season.

Among active franchises, that’s a new record. Their current drought took over the mark previously held by the Florida Panthers, who were shut out for the first 1:55:17 of their 2001-02 season before Viktor Kozlov finally put one home.

However, among all time home droughts to open the year, the Rangers are just minutes away from breaking the record held by the old Pittsburgh Pirates, all the way back in 1928.

While at the time of this publishing, the Rangers have not yet broken that swashbuckling run, the fact that they are even that close is pretty remarkable. Plus, let’s be honest, any time you can bring up the 1928-29 NHL Pirates, you just have to take the opportunity.

I suppose that it’s not all that surprising that the longest home scoring drought to open the year would belong to this iteration Pirates, given how much they struggled that season. Pittsburgh’s NHL team finished 9-27-8 (ties, not overtime losses), including an absolutely horrid 2-15-2 stretch to end the year.

They finished the season with 46 total goals, second-worst in the ten-team NHL that year and only ahead of Chicago. They couldn’t keep the puck out of their net very well, either. They finished with the second-highest goals against, also only better than Chicago.

But while this crew was unmemorable in both the scoring and defensive departments, they have managed to keep their name somewhere in the record books for all this time.

The Pirates opened their season on November 15th, hosting the Boston Bruins at the old Duquesne Gardens on Craig Street. In goal for Pittsburgh was Joe Miller, who put up an admirable performance in the cage, but got no help from the offense in front of him.

Boston would win this one in a 1-0 overtime, with Bruins winger Dit Clapper scoring 7:30 into extra time to give his team a season opening win.

Pittsburgh would then hit the road for a pair of away games. Their first stop in Detroit was a 3-1 loss, but in Chicago, the Pirates found their first win of the season, 2-0 over the Black Hawks (who spelled it as two words at the time).

On the 22nd, the Pirates returned home to the Gardens, but still were unable to score in their own barn. Luckily for the Pirates in this one, neither could the visiting Montreal Canadiens. That’s right, this game ended in a thrilling 0-0 tie, and the first of 15 ties the Canadiens would be a part of that season.

Still, though, the Pirates were searching for their first goal at home, and their search for a goal at all would prove very difficult over the next few games. After the Montreal tie, Pittsburgh was back on the road for a trio of trips. Visiting the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the Pirates were shutout by goaltender John Ross Roach.

Two days later, Tiny Thompson and the Bruins stonewalled the Pirates in Boston, handing Pittsburgh their fourth loss. It was only on their visit to Montreal during that road trip that the Pirates could score, and it resulted in another tie between the Pirates and Canadiens.

Finally, back home in Pittsburgh on December 1st, the Pirates would score their first goal on home ice all season.

It took them nearly two and a half weeks, but in the third period of a matchup against Chicago, forward Hib Milks scored on Charlie Gardiner to put the Pirates on the board. Tallied at 7:19 into the third period, that goal cut the Black Hawk lead down to one, and just a few minutes later, Herb Drury scored Pittsburgh’s second goal to tie the game.

Sadly for these woeful Pirates, they would not be able to keep up the rest of the way. Chicago would add a goal of their own in the third period, and take the 3-2 win over Pittsburgh in the Garden. But, at long last, their home scoring drought to open the year was over!

Milks would go on to tie with Harold Darragh for the team lead in goals, at nine a piece. Both would also record three assists, for 12 total points, though Darragh technically gets the edge, having played one less game than Milks.

Believe it or not, this season was not nearly rock bottom for the NHL’s Pirates. The following season, the Pirates would finish 5-36-3, their worst record while in Pittsburgh. They went winless in their final 18 games, leaving an awful farewell tour for the city before they moved.

Rumors of a move became true in 1930, amidst the stock market crash from the year prior and the toll that the Great Depression had on business everywhere. That summer, the Pirates were moved by their new owners to Philadelphia and renamed the Quakers.

Perhaps they were too busy trying to make piece, because the Quakers went 4-36-4 in their one year in Philadelphia. After that, the lack of an arena forced the team to cease operations, and were technically still a franchise until 1936, when they officially folded. There’s some parallels to what the Pirates/Quakers did in the early 1930s and what we saw the currently “deactivated” Arizona Coyotes do a year and a half ago.

A lot has changed in the 97 years that separate those Pirates and these Rangers, but the next time New York plays in front of their own fans, they will have just 7:19 to score, before the record is officially theirs.

The Rangers host the Minnesota Wild on Monday, October 20th, with history on the line. It should be fun to keep an eye on.

(If you’re interested in reading more about the NHL’s Pittsburgh Pirates, I did a feature on them from a long time ago. You can find that here!)