The Playoffs start tonight and while I am still not entirely happy with the new restructured NHL, it is kind of undeniable that it resulted in some compelling first round matchups. Chicago vs. St. Louis should make for some quality hockey with one Stanley Cup hopeful gone after seven games or less. San Jose vs. Los Angeles should make a new great rivalry. Boston and Detroit also looks to be very interesting.
For my favorite team it means that they meet one of their more traditional rivals in the New York Rangers. Personally I would have rather had the Penguins, simply because it is a better matchup. Against the Rangers is kind of 50-50, and home ice advantage could be a deciding factor as the Flyers have failed to beat the Rangers in Madison Square Garden in their last eight tries. The matchup is however not hopeless and Giroux and Co. would be loathe to do anything but beat the Rangers.
The two teams have had a longstanding animosity, mostly fueled by the rivalry between the two cities. As an outside observer it seems to me that the dichotomy between Philadelphia and New York is rooted in how each view the other. New York is seen as a high society town, but is also called out for arrogance and entitlement, while Philadelphia is more associated with a working-class mentality, but also regarded as violent and low-brow. This rivalry is also noted in other sports, particularly football as the Philadelphia Eagles an the New York Giants have been division rivals for ages. In Baseball, the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies also don't exactly like each other.
The Flyers and Rangers have also shared a division for a long time, in fact since 1974 when the NHL dissolved the "East" and "West" Divisions created by the 1967 expansion and formed the Divisions called "Norris", "Adams", "Patrick" and "Smythe". However, considering that the teams have played 276 regular season games against one another (the Flyers most common opponent in the history of the franchise), it is kind of surprising that the teams haven't met in the Playoffs recently. In fact, the last time this happened was in 1997, 17 years ago (let that sink in for a moment).
The Flyers and Rangers met a total of 10 times in the playoffs so far, with the Flyers winning six of those. The first two of those series are of particular interest because of Hall of Fame Coach Fred Shero. Shero actually played for the Rangers for 145 games in three season between 1947 and 1950. He was sent down after that and continued in the minors. After his playing career was over he remained with the Rangers on the coaching staff in their minor league development system.
However, the Rangers seemed unappreciative of his talent as a coach and his long commitment to the club, and appeared unlikely to give him a promotion to head coach any time soon. Without the chance of proving his true worth with the Rangers, he was successfully poached by Flyers General Manager Keith Allen in 1971, one of the kind of moves that gave Allen the nickname "The Thief". The Rangers would soon rue that day when in 1974 the Flyers defeated the Rangers in a playoff series going the full seven games on their way to their first Stanley Cup victory. It was the first time an expansion team beat an
The Flyers would make two more appearances in the Stanley Cup Final with Shero, winning again in 1975, but losing against the Canadiens in 1976. However, even the greatest coaches have shelf lives, and Shero himself knew that, submitting a letter of resignation in the '78 offseason and then signed a five year contract to coach the Rangers. However, he was still under contract with the Flyers who had refused to accept the letter. The end result was that the Rangers sent their first round pick for the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft alongside some monetary compensation to the Flyers to avoid tampering charges. The Flyers selected Ken Linseman with that pick.
However, Shero had not lost his coaching mojo and lead the Rangers to a 40 win season the following year. As fate would have it, the Flyers and Rangers would meet in the playoffs and this time the Rangers prevailed 4 games to 1. Shero would manage a fourth appearance in the Final in six years, but would again be vanquished by the dynastic Canadiens.
The next season the two teams would meet again, this time the Flyers would return the favor against their former head coach as this time they took a four games from the Ranges while surrendering only one, but they also could not reach the chalice as they were defeated by the other New York team, the Islanders.
Several more playoff bouts between Broad Street and Broadway followed. A total of five meetings in the 80s seesawed. The Rangers won in 1982 and '83, but were defeated by their upstart little brother both times. The Flyers fired back in '85 and made it to the Final, but lost to the Edmonton Oilers featuring Wayne Gretzky. The Rangers won again in '86 and ended a tormented season by the Flyers who were still shocked by the death of their goalie Pelle Lindbergh. The Rangers for their part lost to the Canadiens. The Flyers took one back in '87, but again fell to the Oilers in the Final. Then the two teams avoided each other until '95, when the Flyers beat the Rangers, reigning Stanley Cup champion at the time, and pulled ahead in playoff series victors, 5-4. The Flyers would lose to the Devils the next round.
When the two teams last met in the actual playoffs, it was seen as a passing of the torch. The Rangers had signed "The Great One", Wayne Gretzky during free agency the previous offseason, while the Flyers had "The Next One" on their roster as Eric Lindros had established himself as a true force in the NHL.
Lindros was acquired by the Flyers during the 1992 draft in a blockbuster trade with the Quebec Nordiques. The Rangers were also in the running for Lindros and the Nordiques actually preferred the offer by the Rangers, but an arbitrator ruled that the Nordiques had already entered into a verbal agreement with the Flyers when their General Manager solicited another offer from the Rangers.
In any case, the Series was hard fought, but Lindros and the Flyers prevailed in five games and moved on to the Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings, which was unfortunately lost.
This year is the first time the two teams meet in the postseason since 1997. However, that doesn't mean there haven't been any significant or important games between the two teams since. For example in 2010 the final game of the season was between the two clubs and a playoff berth was on the line. The Rangers had kept themselves alive by defeating the Flyers the previous game at Madison Square Garden and were in a tie with the Flyers. The winner of this game in Philadelphia would jump ahead of the Montreal Canadians for 7th place in the conference. The loser would have nothing to do but book a tee time.
The Rangers 4th line fighter Jody Shelley scored an early game, but the Broadway Blueshirts had little to show elsewhere as the Flyers threw everything they could the other way, outshooting them by a final tally of 47-25. However, their goaltender Henrik Lundqvist held steady and kept everything out, until in the 3rd period Matt Carle finally tied it. The Flyers continued their onslaught but the Rangers could no longer stay back and needed to put out some offense as well. No decision could be made though and the game was pushed into a shootout. Daniel Briere and Claude Giroux scored, while Brian Boucher stopped Olli Jokinen who had to score to keep the game going. This started the Flyers on a nearly miraculous run which ended only in overtime of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final that year.
This first round matchup is definitely compelling. Two teams that do not like each other, and who have a long and storied history with each other. As it turns out this matchup usually also has a lot of implication for the rest of the NHL. If you take note with the Exception of 1974 when the Flyers won, every year the Flyers and Rangers met in the playoffs, the team that would defeat the victor of that battle would go on to win the Stanley Cup. It should be interesting to observe whether this pattern holds up, breaks, or perhaps one of the two combatants actually manage to lift Lord Stanley's Chalice this year for themselves.
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