Rangers-Islanders rivalry has plenty of memories ahead of Stadium Series

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.

With the New York Rangers playing the New York Islanders at the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS), Fischler picks his top 10 moments in the rivalry's history.

Some hockey rivalries live for a short while and others run for a lifetime, but when it comes to the Rangrs and Islanders, the intensity lasts forever and a day.

The Maven was there when the feudin' and fussin' started in 1972, the year the Islanders joined the NHL and has followed the up and down battles ever since.

Here are his top 10 moments in chronological order.

Birth of the rivalry

Oct. 21, 1972, Nassau Coliseum: More than 16,000 fans packed the 14,665-seat arena for the first regular-season game between the Rangers and Islanders. The crowd was treated to intensity plus a rarity: a future Hockey Hall of Fame forward and goalie doing battle.

Late in the second period, Islanders goalie Billy Smith challenged Rod Gilbert. However, 'Smitty' neglected to remove his mask, making it a bit one-sided.

"How could I hit him in the mask?" Gilbert asked the media after the game. "That's all I need is to break my hand."

Responded Smith: "If I stopped to take off my mask, Gilbert could hit me!"

Gilbert and Brad Park assisted on Vic Hadfield's power-play goal at 10:06 of the first period. Bobby Rousseau scored at 7:05 of the third to give the Rangers a 2-1 victory.

Wrote Gerald Eskenazi in the New York Times: "It won't be called a 'Subway Series,' but future games between the clubs, based on tonight's performance, probably will turn into grudging, belting affairs."

Islanders come of age in 11 seconds

April 11, 1975, Madison Square Garden: On this night, the unbelievable became believable. The Islanders made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in their third season and then created more havoc in the best-of-3 NHL Preliminary Round against the Rangers. They scored three goals in 8 1/2-minutes en route to a 3-2 win in Game 1 at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers responded with an 8-3 victory in Game 2.

In the decisive Game 3 at the Garden, the Islanders took a 3-0 lead, and the Rangers tied it 3-3 in the third to take it into overtime. Islanders forward Jude Drouin had the puck in the right corner and sensed that linemate J.P. Parise might be at the crease. 'Jeep' took the pass from Drouin and scored 11 seconds into OT.

The Islanders won bragging rights, and then some.

"It was the best victory in our team's history," general manager Bill Torrey said, "because it put us on the NHL map."

Birth of the Potvin chant

Feb. 25, 1979, Madison Square Garden: It started with an innocent collision late in the first period, when Rangers leading scorer Ulf Nilsson was checked by Denis Potvin, a defenseman and hardest of the Islanders hitters. Nilsson went down with a fractured ankle yet there was no penalty on the play. Neither Nilsson nor Rangers coach Fred Shero thought there would be or should be.

"My foot got stuck in the ice," Nilsson later revealed. "It wasn't Potvin's fault. It was just one of those things."

Said Shero: "It was a hard check. You can't penalize a guy for hitting hard."

As for Blueshirt Nation, there was a different decision. Potvin: GUILTY!

Nilsson had been an Islanders-killer, with 11 points in five games and one period against the Nassaumen, and he was lost for the playoffs. For revenge, a Rangers fan recalled an old jingle, "Let's Go Band," and screamed -- after the catchy three-chord refrain -- "POT-VIN [STINKS]!" From that point on -- game after game, year after year -- the chant grew in intensity and has never stopped.

Nowadays it's bellowed by fans having no idea who this Potvin guy is nor, for that matter, was. As for Potvin, he's taken it in stride and humorously explained, "What they're really saying is, 'POTVIN'S CUPS!'" More recently, the Hall of Famer decided to capitalize on the chant by marketing footwear that he labels "POTVIN'S SOCKS!"

Alas, 45 years later, the slur-turned-cheer has become a brand.

Rangers apply 'choke' hold

May 8, 1979, Madison Square Garden: The Islanders were indomitable in the late 1970's until a seven-game loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1978 NHL Quarterfinals. Afterwards, some critics labelled them "chokers."

"Choke" was repeated in 1978-79, only this time the upstart Rangers upset the mighty men from Uniondale with a mighty playoff thud.

"Nobody with a sane mind would have bet on us," Rangers captain Dave Maloney said. "And that includes me."

But the Rangers cast a spell over their favored foe starting with Game 1 of the NHL Semifinals. Shero zeroed in on stars Potvin and Mike Bossy and completely disarmed them.

"They were staring into my eyes," Potvin lamented, "even after I gave up the puck."

The Rangers won the opener 4-1 at Nassau Coliseum with consummate ease. Yet, even though coach Al Arbour's skaters won two overtime games, the Blueshirts wound up with a 3-2 series lead and a chance to finish the job at home. Once again, the Seventh Avenue skaters dominated and took a 2-1 lead in the middle period. From there, hero goalie John Davidson did the rest, and the Rangers finished the Islanders with consummate ease.

"The Islanders were on top of the League," said Don Maloney, who broke the Rangers record for points in a playoff season with his 12th when he assisted on Ron Greschner's game-winning goal, "They were the best and we were just this young group of guys that came on the scene and ended up winning, and then went to the (Stanley Cup Final)."

Suburban sweep toward a dynasty

May 5, 1981, Madison Square Garden: This one had all the earmarks of another 1979 Rangers playoff upset. Only now it was a 23-year-old Bostonian goalie named Steve Baker who was ready to take on the defending Stanley Cup champions. As in 1979, the winner would get a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

But times had changed. The Islanders won their first and second home games, insisting that this was not 1979 all over again. Any further doubt about their superiority were doused at the Garden, and while all this was going on a new long-living chant was born:
NINE-TEEN-FORTY.

"The thing took off like a jet," wrote Islanders historian Zach Weinstock. "It was catchy. It was mean and it squeezed four decades of Rangers heartbreak into four syllables and five claps of the hand. It was the perfect chant."

NINE-TEEN-FORTY supported what was to be a perfect sweep for the Islanders, who remained invincible in the final two games at the Garden. Game 3 finished with the visitors winning 5-1. After a brief Rangers rally in Game 4, the sweep was over and done with a 5-2 victory for the champs.

"The Rangers were as dead as a Garden fish flying through the air at Denis Potvin," Weinstock concluded.

No Islander shared this Revenge of '79 more than Bossy. His first power-play goal set three NHL playoff marks simultaneously. It was his eighth power-play goal of the 1981 postseason and the Islanders' 26th, both records, and Bossy's 81st goal -- regular season and playoffs included -- breaking Reggie Leach's five-year-old record of 80.

The rousing ride of Bobby Bourne

April 20, 1983, Nassau Coliseum: On a Thursday, April 14, 1983, the rivals met for what the media labelled "The Expressway Series, Part V." By now the Islanders were a certified dynasty, having won the Cup in three consecutive seasons.

With 1980 "Miracle on Ice" hero Herb Brooks coaching the Rangers, they were a formidable threat to Islanders domination. The series was tied 2-2 after four games. A Rangers triumph in Game 5 would, many critics believed, win Brooks' players the tournament.

It wasn't to be. Game 5 was all Islanders. After two periods, they had outshot the Rangers 35-9, but one play above all underlined the Islanders' domination, Bob Bourne's definitive end-to-end rush, one linemate Duane Sutter called, "The prettiest goal I have ever seen" and what Davidson said was "a work of art."

Taking the puck at full throttle from teammate Tomas Jonsson in the right corner of his zone, Bourne rounded the net, blew past two Rangers forwards and was met by defensemen Barry Beck and Reijo Ruotsalainen. First, Bourne whizzed past Beck at the attacking blue line and then undressed Ruotsalainen in the high slot.

It seemed so easy when Bourne completed his expedition by beating goalie Eddie Mio from the left circle at 18:35 of the second. His journey took six seconds and gave the Islanders a 5-1 lead, which ended up a 7-2 rout.

"I went home and watched it 10 or 12 times," Bourne remembered. "Every time I watched it, I got really excited. I'll save that tape for the rest of my life."

Bourne's rush to glory inevitably deflated the Manhattanites. Butch Goring broke a 2-2 tie at 5:21 of the third in Game 6 -- his second goal and third point of the game -- in a 5-2 win. By the end of spring, the Islanders had defeated the big, bad Boston Bruins and Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers for their fourth NHL championship in 11 years of existence.

The greatest game of the rivalry?

April 10, 1984, Nassau Coliseum: During the 1983-84 regular season, the teams enjoyed several heart-throbbing games. Winners of four straight titles, the dynastic Islanders were on a "Drive for Five." One Islanders fan hung a warning sign for the Rangers: "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Goods."

The Rangers were unimpressed and, led by Brooks, took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 Patrick Division Semifinals with a 7-2 victory in Game 3, and led 1-0 after two periods of Game 4 at the Garden.

"Our hearts were in our throats," Bourne said.

The Isles rallied for a 4-1 win to force a deciding Game 5 at the Coliseum.

In what some critics considered one of the greatest games ever played, the Rangers dominated for two periods with a 23-10 shot advantage. Amazing saves by Smith kept the score 1-1 until Jonsson converted Duane Sutter's pass for the Islanders' go-ahead goal in the third. The Rangers persisted until a Mark Pavelich drive popped into the air. Don Maloney bunted it home for the tying goal. The ensuing overtime was thrilling, and then some.

The Rangers had the better of play, but Smith kept saying "No!" especially after Dave Maloney sprung brother Don on a semi-breakaway. Smith foiled it with a toe save.

Then, it happened.

In the left corner of the Rangers zone, the puck innocently skimmed to the right boards directly to Islanders defenseman Ken Morrow. With a quick swing, Morrow one-timed the puck goalward, Patrick Flatley screened Glen Hanlon, and, in a trice, the puck willed its way past bodies and, finally, under Hanlon's pads.

That was the end of yet another classic.

Veteran CBS telecaster Warner Wolf spoke for everyone there at The Barn when he said, "It was the best game I've ever seen. Without question!"

Rangers sweep on way to Cup

April 24, 1994, Nassau Coliseum: This had the making of David vs. Goliath. The Rangers went 52-24-8 to win the Presidents' Trophy given to the best team in the NHL during the regular season, while the Islanders (36-36-12) had just barely squeezed into the playoffs. Yet some skeptics believed that Arbour, back as Islanders coach, could strategize an upset.

"I don't think there's a more challenging opponent we could face in the first round," Rangers goalie Mike Richter said.

Richter had a point. The Islanders had 1987 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Ron Hextall in goal and a core of veterans. However, the Rangers were mighty and their foes mediocre, especially Hextall. Poor Ron was a sieve in the opener of the 1994 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, a 6-0 Rangers rout that set the stage for what one press box wag labelled "The Tennis Series."

Sure enough, the Blueshirts won 6-0 in Game 2. (Tennis, anyone?) Arbour tried to stem the deluge by starting backup Jamie McLennan but it was useless. The Coliseum was no help to the home team in Game 3, nor was 'Hexy.' It was another Rangers rout, 5-1.

So one-sided was the best-of-7 series that when Islanders center Ray Ferraro finally beat Richter in the fourth and final game, the Coliseum fans roared as if they never thought they'd see another goal forever and a day. Mike Keenan's crew, inspired by Mark Messier, swept the series with a 5-2 victory and within seven weeks the Rangers were crowned Stanley Cup champions.

It also signaled the end of NINETEEN-FORTY!

Trottier returns -- as a Ranger 

Jan. 21, 2003, Nassau Coliseum: Of all the unlikely events to take place in the NHL, the idea of Islanders hero Bryan Trottier as Rangers coach would be near the top of any list.

And yet, here's how it happened:

In the spring of 2002, Rangers GM Glen Sather wanted a new coach and received a 90-page, handwritten application from none other than "Trots." Rejecting 19 other applicants, Sather did what many believed -- and still believe -- was the unthinkable. He hired Trottier and thereby infuriated everyone.

On his first Rangers visit to Uniondale, New York, the Islanders' all-time best center was greeted like an enemy alien.

"Our fans hate him," Islanders forward Dave Scatchard said, "and we love that they hate him."

Fans greeted Trots with an assortment of "welcoming" signs including one lofted behind the Rangers bench that said, "TRAITOR." To his credit, the one-time hero shook it off with a simple postgame rejoinder:

"I've been here as (a Colorado) Avalanche and I've been here as a (Pittsburgh Penguin)," he said. "This is old hat."

On that night, the hockey gods were on Bryan's side. The Rangers won 5-0 and he left Uniondale with a smile that was erased in record time. His team was 21-26-6-1 and a week after an unwelcome return to Uniondale, Trottier was fired and Sather was named himself interim coach.

(P.S. That season the rivals battled for one remaining playoff spot. The Islanders made it for the second season in a row. The temporarily Trots-led Rangers missed the postseason for the sixth straight season.)

Rivals take it outside

Jan. 29, 2014, Yankee Stadium: So successful were NHL outdoor games it was inevitable that the League would wind up in New York at its most famous ballpark. The Rangers would first play the New Jersey Devils and then the Islanders three days later at Yankee Stadium.

Having covered endless games in endless venues, I found this one as rare as any in memory. For starters, the vast Stadium was filled with 50,027 patrons who braved a clear, starry night when temperatures dipped to a 7-degree wind chill. Yet few seemed to mind.

The game itself was a goalie battle between Henrik Lundqvist and Evgeni Nabokov. Neither team scored in the first period and well into second until the Islanders pulled off a pretty passing play with Matt Donovan and Cal Clutterbuck feeding Brock Nelson, who beat "King Henrik" with a one-timer at 18:33.

Only 40 seconds later Benoit Pouliot chipped in a Derick Brassard pass from behind the net, tying the game 1-1 heading into the third period. Rangers checking forward Dan Carcillo won the game for coach Alain Vigneault's team, beating 'Nabby' from the low slot at 4:36. The Islanders only had six shots on goal in the final period and the first outdoor Battle of New York ended 2-1 for the Rangers.

That Stadium Series result was a portent of things to come. The Rangers marched to the Stanley Cup Final and the Islanders fell to last place in the Metropolitan Division.