Maybe this is the year it will fall into place the way it did habitually for a time some three decades ago.
Maybe this year is the year the Rangers and Islanders will meet in the playoffs the way they did six times in 10 years from 1975-84, bookended by J.P. Parise at 0:11 of overtime in Game 3 at the Garden and Ken Morrow at 8:56 of overtime in Game 5 at the Coliseum.
Maybe this is the year the reality will meet the hype, the competition will equal the anticipation, the results will have an impact that reaches beyond the rivers that separate the fan bases and across the bridges that unite them.
Maybe this is the year that the Battle of New York returns to the headlines, and maybe even the Back Page.
“For us as a hockey team, it obviously makes the competition much tougher in our division and conference if the Islanders are up there as a good team, but it’s great for hockey in New York,” Henrik Lundqvist said. “Put the Devils in there, too, and it would be great for hockey here if all three teams were battling for first place down the last few weeks.
“Since I’ve been here, there’s always increased intensity and energy in our games against [the Islanders and Devils].”
The fun gets underway tonight at the Coliseum with the Rangers playing their first game in North America and against an Islanders team with promise on the ice and credibility behind the bench and in the management suite.
First, there was the summer in which the Islanders won the most important referendum by signing John Tavares to an extension of his Entry Level deal after getting critical pieces Kyle Okposo and Michael Grabner to sign onto the program by signing back-loaded deals at a time when front-loaded contracts were all the rage.
Then, there was the decision by coach Jack Capuano to name Al Montoya as his club’s opening night goaltender, though Rick DiPietro was at the time healthy. (He’s out with a concusssion.) There have been any number of hits to the Islanders’ credibility as a franchise off the ice the last few ownership eras, but the entitlement bestowed upon DiPietro in the wake of his 15-year contract has been most damaging to the team.
Business as usual on the Island would have been, a) signing Alexei Yashin, a friend of the owner, to a free agent contract; and, b) naming DiPietro, a friend of the owner, as the Game 1 starter regardless of merit.
It’s not business as usual at the Coliseum, where tonight the Islanders will attempt to win their third straight after an opening defeat while keeping the Rangers, who lost in OT and then a shootout in Stockholm, winless on the year.
“The best rivalries always come from teams battling in the playoffs or fighting for division and conference championships,” said Marty Biron, who is apparently saving his best material for his own Twitter account. “If they’re teams that are only a few miles apart fighting at the top, then that’s the best.
“The Islanders are a good team. That’s good for the NHL, but I’m not so sure that’s good for us.”
The Rangers are looking forward to playing a match accompanied by a raucous atmosphere after their two games in a rather sterile environment overseas. They’re looking forward to getting back to reaffirming their Black-and-Blueshirt identity that was held up in Swedish customs.
They’re looking forward to tonight and the first shots in a 2011-12 Battle of New York that could capture the imagination the way it always did three decades ago.