Return of Islanders-Rangers playoff rivalry will have to wait
Rangers' Andrew Copp (18) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (40) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, April 21, 2022, in Elmont, N.Y. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
This was going to be the year the Islanders and Rangers both reached the playoffs, and perhaps, maybe, possibly, if the hockey gods willed it, they would meet in the postseason for the first time since 1994.
Nineteen-ninety-four!!! How in the name of J.P. Parise is that even possible?
But as you might have read, seen and heard by now . . . no. The drought will continue at least until 2023.
While the Islanders already were eliminated from the playoffs before hosting the Rangers at UBS Arena on Thursday night, this was a chance to salvage some pride and dent the Rangers’ division title aspirations.
They did not. Behind a hat trick from Andrew Copp and a playmaking tour de force from Artemi Panarin, the Rangers won, 6-3, after which Islanders coach Barry Trotz blasted some of his players, saying they “cheated the game” with their effort.
That is the sort of passion this rivalry fosters, and it's why the playoff layoff is a pity, because the teams have played so many close, entertaining regular-season games against one another over the decades.
Just this past March 17, the Islanders’ 2-1 victory at Madison Square Garden arguably was both teams’ most entertaining game this season.
This is not like Jets-Giants or Mets-Yankees, teams in opposite conferences or leagues that have combined for one postseason meeting among them.
The Rangers and Islanders are in the same division! This defies odds and logic.
Since the Rangers swept the Islanders in the first round in 1994 — outscoring them 22-3 en route to their most recent Stanley Cup — they have faced the Capitals six times and the Penguins five in the playoffs.
The Islanders have played the Penguins three times and the Capitals twice.
Alain Guillerme and his daughter, Lia, of Manhattan wear half-Islanders, half-Rangers jerseys outside UBS Arena on Thursday night. Credit: Neil Best / Newsday
The Islanders have won only one playoff game against the Rangers since 1984, for crying out loud! One!
About that one: The Islanders needed a double-overtime power play goal by Brent Sutter at Nassau Coliseum to secure it, 4-3, on April 9, 1990.
Why a power play in overtime?
Troy Mallette of the Rangers had been sent off for five minutes — and ejected — for ramming Jeff Norton’s head into the glass, rendering him unconscious and sending him to the hospital.
This was in keeping with the mood in the crowd, which featured dueling Rangers and Islanders chants. There were police on horseback outside the arena to help keep order.
That was Game 3. In Game 1, Pat LaFontaine was taken off the ice on a stretcher after suffering a concussion and the Islanders’ Ken Baumgartner and Mick Vukota both were suspended and . . . well, it was a different time, young readers.
Of course, one reason for the paucity of playoff matchups has been the paucity of playoff appearances.
Only four times since 1994 have both teams made the playoffs, including a close call in 2015 when an Islanders victory over the Capitals in Game 7 would have led to a second-round showdown.
This season the Islanders failed to hold up their end of the bargain for reasons you are tired of reading about by now.
They had only Thursday night’s game left to show what they could do against their rivals, and fans of both teams turned out in force, as they always do.
They included Alain Guillerme of Manhattan and his 13-year-old daughter, Lia, who both wore No. 9 jerseys that were half Islanders and half Rangers — for Clark Gillies and Adam Graves.
Guillerme is a lifelong Rangers fan, but when Lia announced several years ago that she liked the Islanders, they cut the two jerseys in half and reassembled them.
“We’re a family,” he said.
They said they get double takes from fans, and once got one from the Islanders’ Brock Nelson during warmups. They often are told this is not the way the rivalry works.
“[People say], ‘You cannot be a Rangers and an Islanders fan at the same time,’” Guillerme said.
When told about the long drought since the teams last met in the playoffs, Lia said, “They’re probably doing it on purpose, because they don’t want fights or something.”
Much as it seems like they might be, they are not doing it on purpose, fights or no fights. The league and most New York-area hockey fans would love to see it happen.
Someday.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
