New York Rangers Top 5 rivalries ranked
So, who exactly is the New York Rangers biggest rival these days? In fact, what are their top 5 rivalries currently in the NHL?
Interesting questions that come with no perfect answers. In fact, the top 5 rivalries, including biggest single rival, can change over time for the Rangers, even season to season.
The Athletic recently released the results of a fan survey on July 24, in which 2,502 readers submitted their responses to multiple questions regarding different aspects of the Rangers – their confidence in general manager Chris Drury, upcoming prospects, and the viability of a Stanley Cup run in the near future.
The final question on the survey was the most intriguing – “Which of these teams is the Rangers’ biggest rival?”
The Athletic offered five options to choose from – the Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Philadelphia Flyers.
The Devils came in first place, receiving 49 percent of the 2,472 total responses. Next was the Islanders, earning 37.9 percent of votes. The Bruins came in third, with 7.8 percent.
The Pennsylvania teams were last, with the Penguins and Flyers netting 3.4 and 1.9 percent, respectively.
Did the fans mix up the order? Is there a team or two missing from the list?
It becomes a fascinating debate when you consider how to balance recency and historical significance.
Related: Rangers new addition ‘dynamic,’ Chris Kreider raves
Ranking the New York Rangers Top 5 rivalries
Here’s a breakdown of the rangers five biggest rivalries. Let’s see how the fan vote stacks up.
Rangers No. 5 Rival: Boston Bruins
The fifth spot nearly belonged to the Carolina Hurricanes. The Rangers and Hurricanes have battled for Metropolitan Division supremacy for several years now, and the teams met twice in the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past three seasons, with New York winning each series.
Playoff games and series fuel the best rivalries. And there’s no shortage of animosity between the Rangers and Hurricanes, nor memorable moments like Chris Kreider’s third-period hat trick that saved the Blueshirts and eliminated Carolina in Game 6 of their second-round series this past spring.
But this list needs an Original Six matchup. And the Bruins fit the bill.
Boston and New York are oil and vinegar. They’re day and night. It doesn’t matter what sport you choose — these two cities will never get along.
The Rangers have played the Bruins more than any other team in their history. They’ve taken to the ice a whopping 669 times and in that time, the Bruins hold a .538 points percentage over the Rangers heads.
You can’t forget the Brad Marchand factor, either. He is severely disliked by just about every team in the League, and the Rangers are no exception.
Bumping the Bruins down two spots from the fan poll seems fair for a couple reasons.
First, over the past 50 years, the Rangers and Bruins have played once in once in the Stanley Cup Playoffs
In that 2013 series, the Bruins delivered a 4-1 thumping to the Blueshirts in the Eastern Conference Semifinal. Henrik Lundqvist’s standout performance in the previous series against the Washington Capitals, featuring back-to-back shutouts, couldn’t be recreated in John Tortorella’s final games as Blueshirts coach.
The second reason for their lower position on the list is simply down to playing in different divisions. The Rangers and Bruins haven’t been in the same division since 1973-74, barring the 2020-21 COVID-19 rearrangement.
Unfortunately, there aren’t six teams in the league anymore, and the divisional rift between the Rangers and Bruins keeps this rivalry from heating up. The result is fewer first-round playoff matchups.
It’s a far cry from the fan-induced Boston vs. New York brawl inside Madison Square Garden in 1979, when even the players ran up into the stands to join the fight. But these are still two of the best teams in the NHL and their head-to-head meetings in recent years have been among the most entertaining on the schedule.
So, the Bruins get a slight edge over the Hurricanes.
Rangers No. 4 Rival: Pittsburgh Penguins
These teams despised each other in the mid-1990’s (think of that 1992 second-round playoff series) and then later in the 2010s, when they played more memorable postseason games. And until Sidney Crosby retires, they will continue to do so.
He is the player that Rangers fans love to hate, citing his tendency to embellish calls and complain to officials as the reason for their disdain of the Penguins captain. It began in the 2008 Conference Semifinal when (then Ranger) Jaromir Jagr and Crosby constantly went after each other, both verbally and physically.
The stick-waving Sean Avery played his part in agitating the Penguins rivalry in that series as well, entering into a slashing fight with Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in the Penguins crease, though it was Pittsburgh that triumphed to move on in that postseason.
Speaking of slashing fights, Pittsburgh fans never forgave Adam Graves for his wrist-shattering slash on Mario Lemieux in Game 2 of the 1992 Patrick Division Final. Again, Pittsburgh got the last laugh, eliminating New York, which had won the Presidents’ Trophy, and going on to eventually win the Stanley Cup that year.
Who can forget the Rangers erasing a 3-1 series deficit in 2014 to win Game 7 of that second-round series on the road in Pittsburgh behind a simply brilliant Henrik Lundqvist? That helped launched the Rangers to their only Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1994, though they lost in five games to the Los Angeles Kings.
Then there was another similar comeback in their most recent postseason showdown in 2022. That’s when Igor Shesterkin backstopped the Blueshirts to an opening-round series win and the Rangers secured a stunning comeback after being down 3-1. Games 5, 6 and 7 were all comeback victories for the resilient Rangers. A remarkable series from Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin’s Game 7 OT goal powered the Rangers to deliver the Penguins their first Game 7 road loss in franchise history.
The Rangers rivalry with the Penguins has it all, from a historical perspective and its more recent vintage.
Rangers No. 3 Rival: Philadelphia Flyers
The Broadway versus Broad Street rivalry is intense no matter the sport. The Flyers deserved much more than 1.9% of the fan vote share.
New York and Philadelphia are natural adversaries. The NFL’s Eagles and Giants have been in the same division since 1933. The Mets and Phillies hold one of the most intense rivalries in the National League.
The Rangers and the Flyers are no different. They’ve met 11 times in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Flyers have won six of those series.
The 1980s saw the rivals face each other six times in seven years, each team winning three series. That was as even as even can get.
There’ve been bittersweet moments as well — Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky’s played their final playoff games when the Flyers eliminated the Rangers in the 1997 Eastern Conference Final.
The most fateful day of the rivalry came on April 11th, 2010, however. It wasn’t even a playoff game.
On the final day of the regular season, the Flyers hosted the Rangers in a winner-take-all contest for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
After finishing regulation knotted at 1-1, Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux became the hero, tucking the the go-ahead goal past Henrik Lundqvist in the third round of the shootout. Somehow, Marian Gaborik was left watching on the bench when Rangers coach John Tortorella selected Olli Jokinen for the most important shot of the season. Brian Boucher denied Jokinen, the Rangers missed the playoffs and the Flyers went on a crazy run to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Flyers coach that day was Peter Laviolette. Yes, the current Rangers coach. Tortorella, of course, is currently the Flyers coach. So, there’s that fun fact. As is the fact that each was still in place for the Rangers thrilling 3-2 win the 2012 Winter Classic, when Henrik Lundqvist stoned Daniel Briere on a penalty shot in the closing seconds of regulation.
So there you have it. The two winningest United States-born coaches in NHL history having flipped sides and keeping this rivalry humming.
Rangers No. 2 Rival: New York Islanders
The “Battle of New York” is a special rivalry that stands apart from many others in the League. It deservedly earned second place, even though its luster dimmed some after its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Mets-Yankees or Giants-Jets rivalries are great, in New York, but the teams rarely play each other, which makes it difficult for the competitive edge to remain fresh.
The Islanders and Rangers, however, share the same division. Their proximity to one another has fueled a heated rivalry between the Rangers and Islanders, helped by the fact that they play each other, on average, about four times per season.
One of the most infamous moments in this rivalry occurred on Feb. 25, 1979, when Islanders defenseman Denis Potvin checked Rangers forward Ulf Nilsson, resulting in an unfortunate fractured ankle for Nilsson.
Each player contends to this day that the hit was legal. The incident, though, sparked the infamous “Potvin Sucks” chant, which echoes through Madison Square Garden to this day. Potvin has embraced it, turning the phrase into a clothing brand. Fans can now purchase “Potvin Socks” in the Islanders team store.
More importantly for the Rangers, they lost one of their key offensive players for the playoffs that spring. Had Nilsson been healthy, the Rangers — who lost in the Cup Final in five games to the Montreal Canadiens — may have won the Stanley Cup in 1979. Even without Nilsson, the Rangers upset the Islanders in the semi-finals.
From 1981-84, the Islanders were a nightmare for the Blueshirts, eliminating them in the playoffs every single year and winning the Stanley Cup three times in that span, completing their run of four consecutive championships. From Billy Smith to Ken Morrow, the Islanders always found a way to get the best of some very good Rangers teams in that stretch.
The 1990s saw a shift in fortunes, with the Rangers gaining the upper hand in the rivalry. They defeated the Islanders in the playoffs in both 1990 and 1994. That latter series win was sweet, a resounding sweep in which the Rangers outscored their rivals 22-3 in the first round, before later that spring winning their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years.
The rivalry remains intense, as we saw in the outdoor Stadium Series matchup this past February. The Rangers staged a thrilling comeback in front of 79,000 fans, scoring three goals after trailing 4-1 in the second period. Artemi Panarin secured the victory with an overtime goal just 10 seconds into the extra period.
There hasn’t been a playoff series between these two teams in 30 years, but it doesn’t take away at all from the intense rivalry they share to this day.
Rangers No. 1 Rival: New Jersey Devils
The fans in the survey got this one right for multiple reasons.
The Hudson River rivalry is alive and well, supported by the strong historical ties between the Devils and Rangers. And there’s a good chance these two teams will be battling for first place in the Metropolitan Division this season.
The first playoff meeting between the dross-river rivals occurred in 1992, when the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers survived a seven-game Patrick Division semifinal series against the Devils.
The Rangers had the Devils’ number initially – the first three playoff series between these teams in 1992, ‘94, and ‘97 were all Rangers victories.
That includes two of the most iconic moments in the rivalry’s history during the 1994 Eastern Conference Final.
Rangers captain Mark Messier famously guaranteed a victory ahead of Game 6 with the Blueshirts reeling and trailing three games to two. Messier backed up with a third-period hat trick, leading the Rangers to a 4-2 win.
Then in Game 7, after the Devils tied the game in the final seconds, Stephane Matteau famously scored in double overtime to lift the Rangers into the Stanley Cup, where they would defeat the Vancouver Canucks in seven games for their first title since 1940.
The Devils responded in a big way by winning the Stanley Cup 1995, becoming the first team to win the Cup without having home ice advantage in any of the four rounds of the playoffs. Two more Stanley Cup championships followed for the Devils, with the Rangers still sitting on 30 years since their most recent one.
Another memorable chapter in the rivalry was the notorious dispute between Devils goalie Martin Brodeur and Rangers forward Sean Avery. During the 2008 playoffs, Avery employed an unusual (and incredibly annoying) tactic by facing Brodeur and waving his stick in the goalie’s face to distract him. This led to the NHL instituting the “Avery Rule,” banning the practice. To this day, Avery refers to Brodeur as “Fatso.”
Name calling is a thing in a good rivalry.
In 2012, the Devils exacted their revenge by defeating the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final. Despite a remarkable performance by Rangers rookie forward Chris Kreider, who set an NHL record for points and goals by a player in the playoffs before their first regular season game, the Devils took it in six games, when Adam Henrique slid the series-deciding goal past Henrik Lundqvist in overtime.
In the past five years, the rivalry has been renewed with young talent leading the charge. The selection of Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko, selected first and second overall in the 2019 NHL Draft by the Devils and Rangers was imagined to be the rebirth of cross-river competition.
The 2023 first-round playoff series between the clubs saw the first clash of the new-age. The Devils staged a dramatic comeback from a 2-0 series deficit, prevailing in seven games behind the stunning play of young goaltender Akira Schmid, who became the fifth rookie goalie in NHL history with a shutout in Game 7.
The tension is still palpable. This past season saw its fair share of intensity from both sides, notably when Matt Rempe received a four-game suspension for elbowing Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler and then later in the season when Rempe took part in a 5-on-5 line brawl to begin their April 3 game at Madison Square Garden.
Through decades of dramatic games, personal feuds, and iconic moments, the Rangers-Devils rivalry has earned its place as one of the most intense in the NHL.
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