Pete Stemkowski was a six-year vet in the NHL when the Rangers traded for him early in the 1970-71 season. According to then-Rangers GM Emile Francis, the day before the trade Stemkowski was doing an impression of Detroit coach Ned Harkness to amuse his teammates when Harkness showed up and caught Stemkowski’s act.1 The next day, Stemkowski was a Ranger.
For the first several years of his NHL career, Stemkowski’s offensive output was limited, but it jumped a bit with 20+ goals for Detroit in 1968-69 and 1969-70. He joined the Rangers at a heady time. The Rangers took 25 years or so to recover after World War II gutted their roster, but by the time Stemkowski came aboard, Francis’s rebuilding project was bearing serious fruit. Brad Park was driving offense from the blueline, and the forward corps was as deep as the Rangers have ever had. Stemkowski hit 20+ adjusted goals for New York in three consecutive years; in 1972-73 and 1973-74, he was one of seven Rangers forwards with 20+, and in 1974-75 he was one of eight. That 1974-75 club is the only Rangers team to boast that many 20+ adjusted goal scoring forwards. Opposing teams had to deal with three serious scoring lines, even if the third line—usually Stemkowski between Ted Irvine and Bruce MacGregor—was often considered a checking line. Playing behind so many other gifted forwards meant Stemkowski saw little power play time; only 10% of his points with the Rangers came on the man advantage, the lowest percentage of any player in my top 60.
Those early-to-mid ’70s teams are among the best to never win a Cup, but it wasn’t for a lack of opportunity. Stemkowski skated in five straight postseasons with the Rangers and more than once came through in dramatic fashion. “Stemkowski was the best player you’d ever want to see under pressure,” Francis later remembered.2 Stemkowski’s most memorable moment as a Ranger is probably the triple overtime winner he scored against Chicago in the 1971 playoffs to force a game seven. (You can watch the goal in the video below.) Stemkowski later said, “…everyone on both teams was playing on fumes. I had never played a game that long…It was a great night, but it was all kind of tarnished by the fact that we went into Chicago and lost the next game. That was tough.”3
After the team fell short in the playoffs yet again in 1975 and got off to a sluggish start in 1975-76, Francis made the dramatic trade that shipped Park and Ratelle to Boston in exchange for Phil Esposito. Both Stemkowski and the team overall took a step back that year and the next. Stemkowski signed with the Kings for his final NHL season of 1977-78. Since his playing days Stemkowski has been involved with various radio and hockey broadcasting gigs.
Jump to 4:43 of this video to watch Stemkowski put in the triple-overtime winner in 1971:
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