After all, that's when the excitement all began.
Remember, this was the maiden season for the Isles who would face a loaded Blueshirts team that had gone to the 1972 Stanley Cup Final before losing to Boston in six games.
"Nobody gave us much of a chance," said Islanders General Manager Bill Torrey, "but we gave the Rangers a tough time; in more ways than one."
Historians have described the New York-New York rivalry as one of the most enduring -- and best -- in all of sports. Not surprisingly, it began in anger and ended that way as well.
"We were the new guys in town," remembered Islanders goalie Bill Smith, "but we were determined not to back down. I was going to see to that."
It didn't take very long for Smitty to earn the nickname "Battlin' Bill." Actually, just 20 minutes of the first period and 39 seconds into the middle frame.
MAVEN'S MEMORIES
WRITTEN COVERAGE
Dave Langevin, The Best Bodychecker
The Underrated Kenny Jonsson
Gerry Hart, Heart of the Original Isles
The Parise-Drouin Trades
The Great Smitty and Gretzky Battles
From Long Island Arena to UBS Arena
Isles-Rangers Feud: Heating Up Into the 1990s
Mark Fitzpatrick's Mastery
Maven's Haven
"Right off the bat I could tell that Smith was going be tough to play against," said the late Rod Gilbert, then in his prime as the Blueshirts sharpshooter. "But I didn't expect to go at it with him."
Of course, the Rangers knew very little about Smitty. Prior to his clash with Gilbert, the young netminder had only played five major league games and all with Los Angeles during the 1971-72 season.
But with the score 0-0 and only 39 seconds gone in the second frame, the belligerent guardian of the Islanders crease would establish his reputation.
And with it would begin the fiery rivalry that heartily boils to this day.
The Smith-Gilbert collision-bout instantly erupted into controversy since both combatants dropped their gloves but Smitty retained his face mask.
"How could I hit him in the mask?" Gilbert lamented to the media post-game. "That's all I needed was to break my hand on his mask."
Both antagonists were slapped with two-minute minors for roughing and five-minute fighting majors.
Needless to say, Rangers fans in the standing room crowd of more than 16,000 waxed wroth over Smith's refusal to un-mask himself.
Soon, they would learn that -- among his many attributes -- Billy Boy owned a wry sense of humor. Thus, when the post-game press scrum began in the Isles room, Smitty explained his behavior.
Smith: "They don't understand that if I stopped to take off my mask, the other guy could hit me."
Other Rangers -- most notably Glen Sather and Peter Stemkowski -- also tried to whack the Isles bulwark between the pipes but the scuffles didn't get beyond the brush-fire stage.
As for the game itself, Vic Hadfield of the Rangers got the first goal at 10:06 of the second period. Less than four minutes later Craig Cameron tied the count.
But the Blueshirts came away with the two points after Bobby Rousseau beat Smith in the final frame. The final score, 2-1, for the visitors produced several reactions in the media.
New York Times beat writer Gerald Eskenazi was taken aback by the fact that half the crowd rooted for the baby Isles and the other half backed the veterans from Manhattan. Eskenazi dubbed it "Theater of the Absurd."
In the recently updated Isles-Rangers history, "Rivalry," author Zachary Weinstock wrote, "That opening chapter of the Islanders-Rangers anthology was a fitting tribute to the decades of mayhem ahead."
Then, as an afterthought -- and a postscript -- Eskenazi concluded: "Future games between the clubs, based on the first performance, probably will turn into grudging, belting affairs."
The man was right about that, wasn't he!
