4. RANGERS APPLY ‘CHOKE’ HOLD: May 8, 1979, Madison Square Garden
The Islanders were indomitable in the late 1970’s until a seven-game loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1978 NHL Quarterfinals. Afterwards, some critics labelled them “chokers.”
“Choke” was repeated in 1978-79, only this time the upstart Rangers upset the mighty men from Uniondale with a mighty playoff thud.
“Nobody with a sane mind would have bet on us,” Rangers captain Dave Maloney said. “And that includes me.”
But the Rangers cast a spell over their favored foe starting with Game 1 of the NHL Semifinals. Shero zeroed in on stars Potvin and Mike Bossy and completely disarmed them.
“They were staring into my eyes,” Potvin lamented, “even after I gave up the puck.”
The Rangers won the opener 4-1 at Nassau Coliseum with consummate ease. Yet, even though coach Al Arbour’s skaters won two overtime games, the Blueshirts wound up with a 3-2 series lead and a chance to finish the job at home. Once again, the Seventh Avenue skaters dominated and took a 2-1 lead in the middle period. From there, hero goalie John Davidson did the rest, and the Rangers finished the Islanders with consummate ease.
“The Islanders were on top of the League,” said Don Maloney, who broke the Rangers record for points in a playoff season with his 12th when he assisted on Ron Greschner’s game-winning goal, “They were the best and we were just this young group of guys that came on the scene and ended up winning, and then went to the (Stanley Cup Final).”
5. SUBURBAN SWEEP TOWARD A DYNASTY: MAY 5, 1981, Madison Square Garden
This one had all the earmarks of another 1979 Rangers playoff upset. Only now it was a 23-year-old Bostonian goalie named Steve Baker who was ready to take on the defending Stanley Cup champions. As in 1979, the winner would get a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
But times had changed. The Islanders won their first and second home games, insisting that this was not 1979 all over again. Any further doubt about their superiority were doused at the Garden, and while all this was going on a new long-living chant was born:
NINE-TEEN-FORTY.
“The thing took off like a jet,” wrote Islanders historian Zach Weinstock. “It was catchy. It was mean and it squeezed four decades of Rangers heartbreak into four syllables and five claps of the hand. It was the perfect chant.”
NINE-TEEN-FORTY supported what was to be a perfect sweep for the Islanders, who remained invincible in the final two games at the Garden. Game 3 finished with the visitors winning 5-1. After a brief Rangers rally in Game 4, the sweep was over and done with a 5-2 victory for the champs.
“The Rangers were as dead as a Garden fish flying through the air at Denis Potvin,” Weinstock concluded.
No Islander shared this Revenge of ’79 more than Bossy. His first power-play goal set three NHL playoff marks simultaneously. It was his eighth power-play goal of the 1981 postseason and the Islanders’ 26th, both records, and Bossy’s 81st goal — regular season and playoffs included — breaking Reggie Leach’s five-year-old record of 80.
6. THE ROUSING RIDE OF BOBBY BOURNE: April 20, 1983, Nassau Coliseum
On a Thursday, April 14, 1983, the rivals met for what the media labelled “The Expressway Series, Part V.” By now the Islanders were a certified dynasty, having won the Cup in three consecutive seasons.
With 1980 “Miracle on Ice” hero Herb Brooks coaching the Rangers, they were a formidable threat to Islanders domination. The series was tied 2-2 after four games. A Rangers triumph in Game 5 would, many critics believed, win Brooks’ players the tournament.
It wasn’t to be. Game 5 was all Islanders. After two periods, they had outshot the Rangers 35-9, but one play above all underlined the Islanders’ domination, Bob Bourne’s definitive end-to-end rush, one linemate Duane Sutter called, “The prettiest goal I have ever seen” and what Davidson said was “a work of art.”
Taking the puck at full throttle from teammate Tomas…
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