Islanders–Rangers rivalry

New York Islanders–New York Rangers
History
1st Meeting	October 21, 1972
1st Result	NYR: 2-1
Location	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Last Meeting	March 26, 2012
Last Result	NYR: 4-3 (OT)
Location	Madison Square Garden
Next Meeting	November 13, 2012
Location	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Number of Meetings	240
Regular Season Series	NYR: 116-99-19-6 (.535)
Post Season History
Post Season Series	NYI: 5-3 (.625)
Post Season Games	NYI: 20-19 (.513)
Series 1975 NHLP	Islanders won, 2–1
1979 NHLSF	Rangers won, 4–2
1981 NHLSF	Islanders won, 4–0
1982 PDF	Islanders won, 4–2
1983 PDF	Islanders won, 4–2
1984 PDSF	Islanders won, 3–2
1990 PDSF	Rangers won, 4–1
1994 ECQF	Rangers won, 4–0

The Islanders–Rangers rivalry, also unofficially known as the "Battle of New York", is a rivalry between the New York Islanders and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League. Both teams play in the New York City Metropolitan Area, with the Rangers in Manhattan in New York City and the Islanders on nearby Long Island. They are two of the three teams that play in the region, the other being the New Jersey Devils.

This rivalry is unique among New York City's major league sports, as the Islanders and Rangers have played in the same conference and division throughout their history, and thus play plenty of matches each season. This mirrors the rivalry between the NBA's New York Knicks (who share Madison Square Garden with the New York Rangers) and Brooklyn Nets. However, Major League Baseball's New York Yankees and New York Mets are in different leagues while the National Football League's New York Jets and New York Giants are in different conferences, and as such those teams only meet during interleague or playoff games.

Background

The rivalry was established in late 1972, when the National Hockey League awarded a second franchise in the New York metropolitan area. With the impending start of the World Hockey Association in the fall of 1972, the upstart league had plans to place a team, the Raiders, in the then-new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Nassau County. The NHL did not want competition in the nation's largest metro area, so despite having expanded two years before, the NHL awarded franchises to Atlanta and Long Island to preempt the WHA. The fledgling New York Islanders had an extra burden to pay in the form of a $4 million territorial fee to the nearby New York Rangers.

Meetings

Regular season

The Islanders and Rangers play each other six times each regular season, with each team hosting three games. Since 2001, the Pat LaFontaine Trophy has been awarded to the winner of the Rangers-Islanders regular season series. In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, the rivalry was mostly one-sided in favor of the dominant Islanders, who ultimately won four Stanley Cup championships in a row during that time. Since 1994, however, the rivalry has shifted more towards the Rangers. The Rangers won their fourth Stanley Cup in 1994 and have experienced much playoff success since, including two appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1997 and 2012 (where they lost to their archrival Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils, respectively). The Islanders, meanwhile, have not won a playoff series since 1993.

Before the 1995–96 season, the Islanders attempted to update their logo and color scheme. This resulted in the unveiling of their infamous "fisherman logo", which resembled the Gorton's fisherman. The logo was a marketing and public relations disaster, and led Rangers fans to mock the Islanders with chants of "We want fishsticks!". After the 1996 season, the Islanders reverted back to their original logo with an updated color scheme.

Playoffs

In 1975, the Islanders made their first trip to the NHL playoffs, facing the heavily favored Rangers in a best-of-three first-round series. After splitting the first two games, the Islanders won Game 3, and the series, when J. P. Parisé scored 11 seconds into overtime. The teams met again in the 1979 playoffs; this time the underdog Rangers were victorious, eliminating the heavily favoured Islanders in 6 games and earning a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. This was particularly memorable as it continued the Islanders' reputation for playoff "chokes" despite finishing first in the league during the regular season.

The teams also met in the playoffs every year from 1981–84; the Islanders won each series by margins of 4-0, 4-2, 4-2 and 3-2 enroute to 5 finals and four Stanley Cups (in addition to their 1980 win to make it four championships and 5 finals in a row). In the 1990s, the teams met twice, with the Rangers winning 4-1 in 1990, and sweeping the Islanders 4-0 in 1994, en route to winning their first Stanley Cup since 1940. The 1994 playoff series is the most recent meeting between the two teams in the playoffs.

Fan reaction

With Ranger fans often visiting "enemy territory" for games, organized shouting matches and fights break out in the stands. Ranger fans often refer to the Nassau Coliseum as "Garden East" or the "Mausoleum", as Ranger fans often make up almost half of crowd when they visit. In recent years especially, Ranger fans have taken over Nassau Coliseum to gain a unique home-ice advantage even though it is technically a road game. Despite their close proximity, very few Islander fans find their way into MSG. The Rangers' fanbase generally comes from the city's five boroughs, Westchester, Fairfield, and Rockland Counties, and from Northern and Central New Jersey, while the Islanders tend to draw fans from Nassau and Suffolk counties, and parts of eastern Queens. Fans will direct derisive chants at their rivals regardless of whether the teams are actually playing. At each home game, Ranger fans engage in perhaps their most popular chant: whistling the song "Let's Go Band" and punctuating it with "Potvin sucks". This is a reference to retired Islander Hall of Fame defenseman Denis Potvin, who angered Rangers fans by breaking Center Ulf Nilsson's ankle on a clean check. Rangers fans also occasionally bring out the chant "Beat your wife, Potvin, beat your wife", a reference to unconfirmed allegations that Potvin has committed domestic abuse. Lastly, Rangers Fans have taunted Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro by chanting "DP Sucks!"

Islander fans taunted Rangers fans for many years with the chant "1940!" referring to the Rangers having the all-time longest drought without winning the Stanley Cup, until the Blueshirts finally won in 1994. For a period in the late '90s and early 2000s, Islanders fans would punctuate the "Chicken Dance" with chants of "the Rangers suck." The Islanders had stopped playing the song at games for a length of time but as of the 2007–08 season the song is played solely at Islanders-Rangers games. Rangers winger Theoren Fleury used the chant as an excuse for flapping his arms to taunt Islanders enforcer Eric Cairns. In addition a popular chant was "Crackhead Theo!" referring to Fleury's erratic behavior and history of substance abuse at the time. Islanders fans also sing a song to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It", replacing the standard lyrics with "If you know the Rangers suck, clap your hands."

Incidents

One well-known incident at an Islanders/Philadelphia Flyers game in 2003 turned an innocent holiday promotion at Nassau Coliseum into a on-ice shoving match between Rangers and Islanders fans in Santa suits.

One incident that has been rumored was a brawl between fans of the two teams at a New York Mets game at Shea Stadium in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

As of 2012, the Rangers have beaten the Islanders 115 times while the Islanders have beaten the Rangers 102 times. In the playoffs, however, the Islanders hold the lead with a 20-19 record, and have won five of the eight playoff series' between the two teams.

Miscellaneous

Since 2001, the Pat LaFontaine Trophy has been awarded to the winner of the Islanders-Rangers regular season series. The winning team receives a trophy to parade around for their fans and bragging rights for another year, while the losing team must make a $50,000 contribution to the charity of Pat LaFontaine's choice. LaFontaine played for both teams in his career-- the Islanders at the beginning, and the Rangers at the end (he played for the Buffalo Sabres in between, making him one of the few players to have played for all three teams based in the state of New York).

Greg Gilbert won the Stanley Cup with both teams and is the only player to do so with both New York City hockey teams, winning with the Islanders in 1982 and 1983 and with the Rangers in 1994. In addition, Neil Smith served as general manager of both teams.

During the 2009–10 season, there was a moment of peace in the rivalry with both head coaches, Rangers' John Tortorella and Islanders' Scott Gordon winning silver medals as assistant coaches for the U.S. men's ice hockey team during the Vancouver Olympics, under Toronto Maple Leafs Coach Ron Wilson, the head coach.

See also

• National Hockey League rivalries
• Flyers–Rangers rivalry
• Devils–Rangers rivalry