40 years later, Rangers-Bruins meet again

Posted: May 14, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Hockey, NHL, Stanley Cup | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

For the first time in 40 years, the Rangers and Bruins will do battle in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

40 years is a long time. Surprising it’s been that long since these two Original Six rivals met in a playoff series.

When the Rangers and Bruins last met in the post-season, there were only 16 teams in the NHL and half of them made the playoffs.

The year was 1973. Watergate was percolating and Richard Nixon was on the way out, the average annual income was $12,900, and Secretariat won the Triple Crown. This intrepid sportswriter was about to graduate from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., a Ranger fan in a sea of Bruins black and gold.

Meeting for the third time in four years, the Rangers ambushed the Bruins in five games in their 1973 first-round clash. Goalie Eddie Giacomin’s shutout in Game 4 and Calder Trophy winner Steve Vicker’s, shown above, hat trick in the 6-3 finale at Boston Garden led the Rangers to the series win.

The Bruins, led by Conn Smythe Trophy winner Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and a star-studded cast, beat the Rangers in six games in 1972 to win the Stanley Cup. The B’s also won the Cup in 1970, knocking off the Rangers in six games in the quarterfinals.

In total, the Rangers and Bruins have met nine times in the playoffs, with the Bruins winning six of those match-up. In 1958, the Bruins beat the Rangers in a six-game semifinal.

The rivals clashed three straight years beginning in 1927. In 1928, New York beat Boston 5-2 in a two-game, total-goal semifinal format, then beat the Montreal Maroons to win the Stanley Cup. The Bruins captured the Cup in 1929 when they beat the Rangers 2-0 in the finals.

In 1939, Mel “Sudden Death” Hill became a household name in New England when he scored three overtime goals to help the Bruins beat the Rangers in the semifinals and went on to win the Stanley Cup. The Rangers returned the favor in 1940, beating Boston in six games and then topping Toronto 4-2 in the Cup finals. It would be 54 years before they won another.