NBCSN’s NHL Wednesday Rivalry Night is a great idea except when the matchups occasionally have very little in the way of actual historic rivalries. This week, NBCSN gets a true gem of a rivalry matchup, as the New York Rangers will host the Boston Bruins at 8 p.m. ET. The Bruins-Rangers matchup is one that brings back decades worth of memories. Although the Rangers and Bruins met as recently as 2013 in the playoffs, they boast a rivalry that was cemented decades before.
With two passionate fan bases that pass the tradition down from generation to generation, to the classic uniforms worn by both teams, the Rangers and Bruins rivalry connects hockey fans of all generations with memories ranging from greatness to brawling brutality and everything in between.
Rivalry Built on History and Hall of Famers
So much of sports and its greatest rivalries is honoring a past of greatness. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Rangers and Bruins had among the biggest stars in the NHL. This was also the time of the great expansion when the league grew from six teams in 1967 to a total of 18 teams by 1974.
The Bruins and Rangers rivalry was among the most intense, as well as most important in the growth of the sport. The Ranger-Bruins rivalry reached its climax between 1970 and 1973 when they met in the playoffs three times. Tops among those memories would have to be the 1972 Stanley Cup Final in which Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and the Big Bad Bruins took out the Rangers in six games with the Cup-clinching win at Madison Square Garden. The Bruins team bus was nearly overturned in a raging riot of bitter Ranger fans after the game. It was the culmination of a decade’s worth of high stakes hostilities that still resonate with fans to this day.
Boston featured, arguably, the greatest player in history in Bobby Orr, who revolutionized the position of defenseman with his daring rushes and magnificent puck carrying.
Then there was the garbage man, super star center Phil Esposito, the first player who ever cracked the 70-goal mark in 1970-71. Espo was a charismatic player who made his living in the slot banging in rebounds and deflections.
Goaltender Gerry Cheevers had the most distinctive mask in the league at that time in which he would draw stitches on the mast for each time a puck deflected off it.
The Bruins also boasted a Joe Namath type sex symbol in Derek Sanderson. Known as the Turk, Sanderson became the prototype of a strong checking center, faceoff man, and penalty killer. He later went into partnership with Namath’s chain of bars known as Bachelors Three.
The Rangers had a star defenseman of their own in Brad Park. They also boasted their own star center in the elegant Jean Ratelle The Rangers had an unforgettable and a charismatic French-Canadian forward named Rod Gilbert. Vic Hadfield joined up with Gilbert and Ratelle to form the famed Goal-A-Game Line.
And then there was goaltender Ed Giacomin. Overflow crowds at Madison Square Garden would serenade the Broadway Blueshirts netminder with chants of “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie” after a big save.
Espo Vows to Jump Out of Window
Ironically enough, Park would be traded for Esposito in 1975 when Orr’s knees were shot beyond repair. Boston general manager Harry Sinden preferred a top defenseman to a scoring center and so he did the unthinkable.
One week after promising Espo that he would never be traded, Sinden sent him packing. It was left to then Bruins coach Don Cherry to break the news to Esposito. Cherry asked Orr to join him. They entered Esposito’s room in an Oakland, Calif. hotel where the team was staying. When Cherry told Esposito that he had been traded, the center iceman responded that if it was to the hated arch rival Rangers that he would jump out of the window. As it turned out, the trade would benefit both sides. The Bruins remained a top contender with Park and the Rangers made a memorable playoff run in to the 1979 Stanley Cup Final. Esposito would later become general manager of the Rangers.
