diff --git a/lib/events.js b/lib/events.js
index 69e29eaf554..b42f086ee77 100644
--- a/lib/events.js
+++ b/lib/events.js
@@ -186,8 +186,6 @@ EventEmitter.prototype.removeListener = function(type, listener) {
 
     if (position < 0) return this;
     list.splice(position, 1);
-    if (list.length == 0)
-      delete this._events[type];
   } else if (list === listener ||
              (list.listener && list.listener === listener))
   {
diff --git a/test/simple/test-event-emitter-remove-listeners.js b/test/simple/test-event-emitter-remove-listeners.js
index 70526668c4d..33ee3df564f 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-event-emitter-remove-listeners.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-event-emitter-remove-listeners.js
@@ -42,10 +42,15 @@ function listener3() {
 }
 
 var e1 = new events.EventEmitter();
+var e1listeners = e1.listeners('hello');
 e1.on('hello', listener1);
+assert.equal(e1listeners.length, 1);
 e1.removeListener('hello', listener1);
 assert.deepEqual([], e1.listeners('hello'));
 
+// identity check, listeners array should be the same
+assert.equal(e1listeners, e1.listeners('hello'));
+
 var e2 = new events.EventEmitter();
 e2.on('hello', listener1);
 e2.removeListener('hello', listener2);
@@ -54,8 +59,12 @@ assert.deepEqual([listener1], e2.listeners('hello'));
 var e3 = new events.EventEmitter();
 e3.on('hello', listener1);
 e3.on('hello', listener2);
+var e3listeners = e3.listeners('hello');
+assert.equal(e3listeners.length, 2)
 e3.removeListener('hello', listener1);
+assert.equal(e3listeners.length, 1)
 assert.deepEqual([listener2], e3.listeners('hello'));
 
+assert.equal(e3listeners, e3.listeners('hello'));