May 24, 1980: The Bobby Nystrom Game

May 24, 1980: The New York Islanders win their 1st Stanley Cup. It was the conclusion of their 8th season of play, and after close calls in the Playoffs in 1975, '78 and '79, they went all the way. The reached the Finals by beating the Los Angeles Kings 3 games to 1, the Boston Bruins 4-1, and the Buffalo Sabres 4-2.

In the Finals, they faced the Philadelphia Flyers, who had won the Cup in 1974 and '75, lost in the Finals in '76, and, earlier in the 1979-80 season, with a few holdovers from their Cup-winning teams including Captain Bobby Clarke, set a North American major league sports record by going 35 games unbeaten: Won 26, tied 9, lost exactly none. They had swept the Edmonton Oilers 3-0, beaten the New York Rangers 4-1, and beaten the Minnesota North Stars 4-1. They had also beaten the Islanders in the 1975 Playoffs.

In Game 1 of the Finals, Islander Captain Denis Potvin scored in overtime to give the Isles a 4-3 win at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The Flyers made them pay dearly for that, pounding them 8-3 in Game 2.

On May 17, the Nassau Coliseum, having already hosted the Nets in the ABA Finals in 1974 and '76 (the team now in the NBA, and in New Jersey, winning both), hosted its 1st Stanley Cup Finals game, and the Isles won 6-2. They won Game 4 5-2. The series went back to Philly for Game 5, and the Flyers won it 6-3.

Game 6 was crucial for the Isles: As was the case with the Flyers in '74, facing the Boston Bruins, they did not want to lose Game 6, and give themselves the task of going on the road in Game 7 against the far more experienced team that already knew how to win.

Reggie Leach opened the scoring for the Flyers, but Potvin soon equalized. A little over 2 minutes later, Clark Gilles made a drop pass to Butch Goring, and the instant replay showed that it was offside. But referee Leon Stickle missed this, and Goring passed to Duane Sutter, who scored at 14:08 of the 1st period, giving the Isles a 2-1 lead.

This was not enough to stop the Flyers, as Brian Propp scored at 18:58, and the game went into the 1st intermission at 2-2. Mike Bossy scored midway through the 2nd period, and Bobby Nystrom did so with 14 minutes left, and it was 4-2 Islanders.  But within 6 minutes and 2 seconds of the 3rd period, Bob Dailey and John Paddock scored for the Flyers, and the game was tied. It went to overtime.

At 7:11 of overtime, Nystrom scored the most important goal in Islander history, past Pete Peeters. The New York Islanders had won the Stanley Cup. A franchise had grown up.

This is the only color photo I could find involving the goal.

Hail the Champions: 1, backup goaltender Glenn "Chico" Resch; 3, defenseman Jean Potvin; 4, defenseman Bob Lorimer; 5, Captain and defenseman Denis Potvin, Jean's brother; 6, defenseman Ken Morrow; 7, defenseman Stefan Persson; 8, left wing Garry Howatt; 9, left wing Clark Gillies; 10, center Lorne Henning; 11, center Wayne Merrick; 12, right wing Duane Sutter; 14, center Bob Bourne; 16, center Steve Tambellini; 17, left wing Alex McKendry; 19, center Bryan Trottier; 22, right wing Mike Bossy; 23, right wing Bobby Nystrom; 24, defenseman Gord Lane; 26, defenseman Dave "Bam Bam" Langevin; 27, left wing John Tonelli; 28, right wing Anders Kallur; 31, goaltender Billy Smith and 91, center Robert "Butch" Goring.

The most familiar photo: Henning celebrating with Nystrom.

Morrow had gone from an Olympic Gold Medal, with the U.S. team, to the Stanley Cup in exactly 3 months. Denis Potvin, Gillies, Trottier, Bossy and Smith have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Those 5, and also Nystrom, Tonelli and Goring, have had their numbers retired by the Islanders. Resch and Tambellini would be original 1982-83 New Jersey Devils.

The Flyers and their fans were outraged. They were sure that this goal was offside as well. The instant replay was inconclusive, but if they'd gotten the earlier call right, the game never would have gone to overtime: The Flyers would have won 4-3, and forced a Game 7 in Philadelphia. Instead, it was 5-4, and the Islanders were World Champions.

Did Stickle really cost the Flyers the title? He had already been an NHL referee for 11 seasons, and had previously worked the Stanley Cup Finals in 1977 and 1978. Each was a victory by the Montreal Canadiens over the Boston Bruins.

Boston fans are notoriously whiny. So is Don Cherry, then the coach of the Bruins. But nobody complained about missed calls or unfair treatment from Stickle then. It's only Flyer fans, due to 1980.

What's more, in spite of his apparent mistakes, the NHL continued to assign Stickle to big moments: The Stanley Cup Finals again in 1981, 1984 and 1985. The Canada Cup in 1981 nd 1984. And Rendez-vous '87, the Canada vs. Soviet Union "summit series" that took the place of that year's All-Star Game.

He kept officiating until he retired after the 1997-98 season, and Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals remains the only game, out of the 2,069 regular-season and 206 postseason games at which he officiated in 28 years, that anybody complains about him for.

Which doesn't mean he didn't make a mistake or two during the game in question. But you should also consider that the linesmen missed the Gillies-Goring offside as well. And linesmen are supposed to look out for offside.

Then there's the Flyers' reputation: If they hadn't done the things that got them nicknamed the Broad Street Bullies from 1969 onward, maybe they would have gotten the benefit of the doubt on close calls. Many times, the Fly Guys dug their own graves. That's no excuse for getting calls wrong, but it is, however flimsy, an explanation.

Then there was the goaltending situation. In both 1974 and 1975, Bernie Parent won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goaltender of the year, and the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff Most Valuable Player. Those are the only 2 seasons in which the Flyers have ever won the Stanley Cup. He was a 5-time All-Star, and in spite of a career that wasn't as long as it should have been, he was listed as 63rd on The Hockey News' 1998 list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

In 1979, Parent suffered a freak injury, when a stick went through the right eyehole of his mask. He was only 34 years old, but the damage to his eye was such that he had to retire. The Flyers have gone through a lot of goalies since, including Pete Peeters in the 1980 Finals, Pelle Lindbergh in '85, Ron Hextall in '87 after Lindbergh's death in a drunk-driving crash, the tandem of Hextall and Garth Snow in '97, and Brian Boucher in 2010. None of them have been able to protect the net like Parent. Few goalies ever have. But in 42 years, they're still looking for that Cup-worthy goalie.

But even if Peeters had saved Nystrom's shot, and the Flyers had gone on to win Game 6, there would still have been a Game 7. Yes, it would have been at The Spectrum. But from 1975 to 1980, the Islanders had already won 20 Playoff games on the road, including 7 that year. And this was before they had the label of "Champions," let alone that of "Dynasty."

Had this series gone to a Game 7 in The Spectrum, there's no guarantee that the Flyers would have won it. You think the Islanders were going to be intimidated by the Philly crowd? They weren't intimidated by Ranger fans, or Boston fans, or Montreal fans. Compared to that, Philly fans were going to be a piece of cake.

The Islanders were better. Did Leon Stickle make mistakes? Sure, he did. Is he a reason why the Flyers lost the 1980 Stanley Cup Finals? Certainly. Is he the biggest reason why? No.

In 1988, the Flyers established a team Hall of Fame. Paul Holmgren was the only player on the 1980 Flyer Finalists who did not also play on the earlier Flyer Finalists of 1974, '75 or '76; or the later Flyer Finalists of 1985, '87, '97 or 2010.

*

May 24, 1980 was a Saturday. Football was out of season. The basketball season had ended 8 days earlier, with the NBA Finals, and Philadelphia had lost that, too: The 76ers lost in 6 games to the Los Angeles Lakers. At least the Flyers didn't get clinched on at The Spectrum: The Sixers did.

A full slate of Major League Baseball games was played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Ruppert Jones hit a home run in support of Luis Tiant. Yes, both were Yankees that season. Reggie Jackson did not play.

* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-4 at Shea Stadium. Mike Jorgensen hit a home run in support of Pat Zachry, but the winning run was driven in by Elliott Maddox with a single off Rick Camp in the bottom of the 10th. Camp would appear in Met history again.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Rookie sensation "Super" Joe Charboneau hit a home run in support of Rick Waits. Carl Yastrzemski did not play.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Astros, 5-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt had an RBI triple, Pete Rose went 0-for-3 with a walk. No one knew it yet, but this was a fitting preview of what is still one of the best League Championship Series ever played.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray hit a home run in support of Jim Palmer.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-9 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Jack Clark hit 2 home runs, Mike Ivie 1. Willie McCovey, in his last season, drew a walk as a pinch-hitter. Willie Stargell and Dave Parker hit home runs for the defending World Champion Bucs. But it was a double by light-hitting Jim Wohlford that won the game for the Giants in the top of the 15th inning.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos, 2-0 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. George Foster hit a home run, and Johnny Bench went 1-for-2 with a walk, in support of Frank Pastore, who pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Bryan Edmund "Moose" Haas pitched a 4-hit shutout, the Brew Crew's 2nd straight shutout of the Twins. Paul Molitor hit a home run, and Robin Yount went 1-for-4.

* The San Diego Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 6-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). George Brett went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Rod Carew went 2-for-4 with a walk.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 15-7 at the Oakland Coliseum. Mickey Klutts, once the Yankees' most touted prospect, never panned out for them, but hit a home run for the A's in this game. Rickey Henderson, then a rookie, went 1-for-5 with a walk and an RBI, but no stolen bases.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-4 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

May 17, 1983: The New York Islanders Win Their 4th Straight Stanley Cup

Captain Denis Potvin

May 17, 1983: The New York Islanders beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the Nassau Coliseum, and complete a 4-game sweep of the Stanley Cup Finals. The Isles thus become the 1st team other than the Montreal Canadiens to win 4 straight Stanley Cups.

This was the era when the Coliseum was known as Fort Neverlose. They beat the Philadelphia Flyers in the Finals in 1980, the Minnesota North Stars in 1981, the Vancouver Canucks in 1982, and the Oilers in 1983. In the Playoffs from the 1st round in 1980 to the Conference Finals in 1984, they went 71-22 in the Playoffs. But the Coliseum wasn't quite an impenetrable fortress: Over that stretch, the Isles went 40-9 at home. It was the Finals sweeps of 1982 and 1983 that reinforced the image.

Some players were on all 4 Cup-winning teams: Goaltender Billy Smith (Hall of Fame); defensemen Denis Potvin (Captain, Hall of Fame), Ken Morrow, Gord Lane, Dave Langevin, Mike McEwen and Stefan Persson; centers Bryan Trottier (Hall of Fame), Butch Goring and Wayne Merrick; right wings Mike Bossy (Hall of Fame), Bobby Nystrom, Duane Sutter and Anders Kallur; and left wing Clark Gillies (Hall of Fame). Center Brent Sutter, Duane's brother, won his 2nd Islander Cup. The team was coached by Al Arbour, and built by general manager Bill Torrey.

The Conn Smythe Trophy, for the Most Valuable Player of the Playoffs, went to Trottier in 1980, Goring in 1981, Bossy in 1982, and Smith in 1983.

For the Oilers, including Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Grant Fuhr, their "dynasty" had to wait 1 more year, when they stopped the Islanders' "Drive for Five" in the Finals.

Every time I've seen the New Jersey Devils play the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum, I've seen a car in the parking lot, New York license plate 4STAN, in honor of those 4 Stanley Cups. But since that 1984 Finals, they've been 0-3 in Conference Finals.

In 1998, The Hockey News released its list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players. They ranked Potvin 19th, Bossy 20th, Trottier 31st, and Smith 80th. In 2017, he was named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players.

*

May 17, 1983 was a Tuesday. Basketball player Channing Frye was born.

The NBA Playoffs, and the 1st season of the United States Football League (USFL), were in progress, but no games were scheduled for either on this day.

These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-5 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Former Tiger Steve Kemp hit a home run in the top of the 11th inning, making Rich "Goose" Gossage a winning pitcher in relief of Jay Howell. Dave Winfield went 4-for-5 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs.

* The New York Mets beat the San Diego Padres, 6-4 at Shea Stadium. Tom Seaver, in his brief return to the Mets, gained his 267th win. Darryl Strawberry, on his way to being named National League Rookie of the Year, hit a home run.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Tom Niedenfuer walked Bryan Little with the bases loaded, forcing Andre Dawson home with the winning run in the bottom of the 15th inning.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. George Brett went 0-for-4. Carl Yastrzemski, in his final season, did not play.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 2-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3 with a walk. Pete Rose went 1-for-4.

* The Baltimore Orioles swept a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox, 7-2 and 5-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Mike Boddicker pitched a 5-hit shutout in the nightcap. Over the 2 games, Eddie Murray went 4-for-8 with 2 RBIs, and Cal Ripken went 3-for-7 with a walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Mario Soto outpitched John Candelaria. Johnny Bench, in his final season, went 1-for-4.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 9-6 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Paul Molitor was injured, and did not play.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-2 with 3 walks and 2 stolen bases.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 8-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Jim Sundberg singled Larry Parrish home with the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning.

* And the California Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Rod Carew went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-3 with a walk.

May 8, 1979: Rangers Beat Islanders to Reach Finals

May 8, 1979: New York's hockey establishment and its rising tide collide at Madison Square Garden, with a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals on the line.

There were priors.

From the folding of the New York Americans in 1942 until the expansion that admitted the New York Islanders in 1972, the New York Rangers were the undisputable rulers of hockey in New York City, and in the New York Tri-State Area. Unless you were from another metropolitan area, or you were weird, if you were a hockey fan in the City, New Jersey, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, or the New York side of Connecticut, you were a Ranger fan. (If you were from the New England side of Connecticut, or you had a Bobby Orr fetish, which would be included in "if you were weird," you rooted for the Boston Bruins.

The Islanders, in only their 3rd season of play, had humiliated the Rangers in the 1975 Stanley Cup Playoffs. In 1978 and 1979, the Islanders won the regular-season title of the Patrick Division, which was named for Lester Patrick, (not quite, but for all practical purposes) the founding coach and general manager of the Rangers.

Meanwhile, the Rangers crashed and burned, and rebuilt, with a team led by former Boston Bruins legend Phil Esposito. They were one of the earliest teams to sign European players, luring Swedish stars Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson from the Winnipeg Jets, then in the World Hockey Association. They hired Fred Shero, who had coached the Philadelphia Flyers to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and '75. Islanders were coached by Al Arbour, once an All-Star defenseman.

On February 25, 1979, at The Garden, in a game the Rangers won 3-2, Nilsson chased the puck, and got his skate caught in the boards. All-Star defenseman Denis Potvin, Captain of the Islanders, hit him, and the hit broke Nilsson's ankle. But no penalty was called on the play, because the hit was legal. It didn't matter: Nilsson had not yet returned when the Playoffs began, and Ranger fans blamed Potvin for it. 

Since then, for over 40 years, Ranger fans have chanted, "Potvin sucks!" Not just when the Islanders come in, long after Potvin has retired, but at every game. Other players named Potvin, not related, and not familiar with the history, must have wondered, "What did I do?"

Both teams advanced to the 1979 Stanley Cup Semifinals. The 1st 2 games were at the Nassau Coliseum. The Rangers won Game 1, 4-1. Game 2 went to overtime, and not only did the Islanders win, 4-3, but, rubbing salt in Ranger fans' wounds, it was Potvin who scored the winning goal at 8:02.

The next 2 games were at The Garden. The pattern held: The Rangers won Game 3, 3-1, but the Islanders won Game 4 in overtime, 3-2, this time with Bobby Nystrom tallying at 3:40. It was the biggest goal Nystrom had yet scored. It would not remain so.

The pattern held for Game 5 at the Coliseum: The Rangers won, 4-3, with Hedberg scoring the winning goal with only 2:13 left in regulation. Game 6 was at The Garden. Mike Bossy, the Isles' best offensive player, scored at 8:56 of the 1st period. Don Murdoch tied it at 5:03 of the 2nd period.

At 8:45 of that period, on a power play, defenseman Ron Greschner scored, to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. For the last 19 minutes of the game, the Isles fought like mad for an equalizer, to keep the pattern going by sending it to overtime, but Ranger goalie John Davidson turned away 21 out of 22 shots, and the 2-1 lead held. The Rangers were going to the Stanley Cup Finals.

A native of Goodsoil, Saskatchewan, Canada, Greschner was an unexpected hero, as far as scoring winning goals was concerned: A 5-time All-Star, he was one of the best "defensive defensemen" of his era, playing 16 seasons for the Rangers. (His Number 4 is still in circulation.) He served as team Captain in the 1986-87 season. In 981 regular-season games for the Broadway Blueshirts, he had 431 assists, but just 179 goals. This was 1 of 17 goals he scored in Playoff play, 6 that season.

From 1983 to 1996, he was married to supermodel Carol Alt, a native of Flushing, Queens. They even did a Pontiac car commercial together. As it turned out, she was an Islander fan, and left him for Islanders player Alexei Yashin. Greschner married again, and lives in Florida with his wife and their 5 children.

Islander goalie Glenn "Chico" Resch turned away 25 of 27 shots. This game would be his last hurrah on The Island: Billy Smith would be made the starter, which went a long way toward starting their dynasty. After the 1982 Cup win, Resch was traded to the Colorado Rockies, who were then moved to become the New Jersey Devils, making it a 3-way New York Metropolitan Area rivalry.

Both goalies went on to become renowned broadcasters: Davidson with the Rangers, and for national network broadcasts, earning him the Foster Hewitt Award, the Hockey Hall of Fame's honor for broadcasters; Resch for the Devils, after a few years of mediocre results in goal, then going into the booth and becoming a beloved figure among the team's fans.

*

May 8, 1979 was a Tuesday. In the other Stanley Cup Semifinal series, the Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2 at the Boston Garden, in Game 6. The Canadiens won Game 7, and would beat the Rangers in the Finals in 5 games, despite Ulf Nilsson returning for the round.

Game 4 was played in the NBA Western Conference Finals. The Phoenix Suns beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 100-91 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, tying the series. But the Sonics went on to win it in 7 games.

The WHA Playoffs were between the Semifinals and the Finals. The Winnipeg Jets, with old Bobby Hull, went on to beat the Edmonton Oilers, with young Wayne Gretzky, in 6 games.

Football was out of season. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Reggie Jackson hit a home run. Jim Beattie was the winning pitcher. This was during Goose Gossage's injury, and Ron Guidry's experiment in filling in as closer, getting his 2nd and, as it turned out, last save of the season. He went 18-9 as a starter, after going 25-3 the year before.

* The New York Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Willie Stargell did not play.

* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Joe Rudi (whom the Red Sox had once purchased, but had it canceled by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn) and Carney Lansford (whom the Red Sox would later trade for) hit home runs for the Angels. Rod Carew went 0-for-3 with a walk, but had an RBI on a groundout. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-3 with a walk, and Dwight Evans hit a home run.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray, Lee May and Gary Roenicke hit home runs.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-8 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Johnny Bench went 0-for-4 with a walk.

 The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-5 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 2-for-4. Paul Molitor went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 16-6 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-7 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. George Brett went 1-for-5.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 4-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Lou Brock went 0-for-3.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 9-8 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Pete Rose went 3-for-6 with 4 RBIs, including a 2-RBI double in the top of the 12th inning. The Padres got a run back in the bottom of the 12th, but it wasn't enough. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-5. Dave Winfield went 0-for-4 with a walk, and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* And the Montreal Expos beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Scott Sanderson allowed only 2 baserunners: A single by Terry Whitfield in the 1st inning, and a walk to Darrell Evans in the 5th.

February 25, 1979: The Potvin-Nilsson Game

February 25, 1979: Denis Potvin becomes Public Enemy Number 1 to New York Rangers fans.

"The New Madison Square Garden Center" opened in 1968, on top of Penn Station, between 31st and 33rd Streets, and 7th and 8th Avenues. What became known as "the old Garden" was demolished right afterward, and a parking lot was put on the site until construction began on Worldwide Plaza, a skyscraper which opened in 1989.

The Rangers rose back to contention largely thanks to goalie Eddie Giacomin, defenseman Brad Park, and the "GAG Line," which stood for "Goal A Game": Jean Ratelle centering Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert. All are still alive; all but Hadfield are in the Hall of Fame, and Hadfield probably should be.

This was a bit of a golden age for New York sports: Between December 1968 and October 1973, although the Yankees and Giants were mediocre at best, World Championships were won by the Mets, the Jets, and the Knicks twice, with the Mets winning an additional Pennant and the Knicks reaching an additional NBA Finals.

The Rangers were a part of this, reaching the Finals in 1972, before losing in 6 games to the Boston Bruins of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito.

This was in the NHL's big era of expansion, and the next season, the Islanders debuted, at the Nassau Coliseum in Hempstead. (The mailing address is Uniondale, but it's within the town of Hempstead.) For 2 years, they were terrible, but in 1975, just their 3rd season, they beat the Rangers in the Playoffs.

This was a stunning blow, and it was a transition period in New York sports: The Yankees were playing in Shea Stadium while the original Yankee Stadium was being renovated, the Mets began to decline, the Giants played first at the Yale Bowl in Connecticut and then at Shea while waiting for Giants Stadium to be finished, the Jets fell apart as did Namath's knees, and the Knicks got old and fell apart while watching the Nets win 2 ABA titles.

The hockey shift was the most noticeable of all. The Islanders began a dominant stretch that would eventually see them reach 5 straight Finals, winning 4 straight Cups.

But calendar year 1975 was the Rangers' annus horribilis. Ranger management, having already traded Hadfield, fired Emile Francis as head coach after the Playoff loss to the Isles, ending his tenure in that role after 11 years. He remained general manager a little longer, being relieved of duty the following January.

But before that, he made a few deals, including one in June with the St. Louis Blues that brought in young goalie John Davidson. That left the veteran Gilles Villemure as the odd man out in the net, and he asked to be traded, and was, to Chicago on October 28. Then, on Halloween, October 31, just 4 games into the new season, the Rangers waived the still-popular Giacomin, and he was picked up by the Detroit Red Wings.

As fate would have it, the Wings were the opponents in the Rangers' next home game, and on November 2, Ranger fans, showing that they knew more about hockey than their team's management, chanted, "Ed-die! Ed-die! Ed-die!" The Rangers lost, 6-4. It was probably the only time Ranger fans ever left The Garden happy about a defeat.

Five days later, on November 7, the Broadway Blueshirts made what became known in hockey as The Trade: Sending Park, by then the team Captain, Ratelle, and defenseman Joe Zanussi for Esposito and defenseman Carol Vadnais. None of those players had wanted to be traded. Asked in 2008 how long it took him to get over his anger at the Rangers, Park said, "I'm still ticked!"

The Rangers missed the Playoffs in that 1975-76 season, and the next. Fans got restless. The top level, the 400 sections, of The Garden had blue seats, and in those cheapest of seats, the passion began to boil over. The seats were blue, the jerseys were blue (although, at this point, home teams wore white in the NHL), the air was blue (smoking was still allowed in sports arenas at the time), and the language was getting bluer than ever.

The Rangers made the Playoffs in 1978, and then in 1979, they regained their local icon status, including a thrilling Stanley Cup Semifinal win over the Islanders, delaying the Nassau County club's rise to the top for one more year.

Now, here is where Ranger fans' memories and the facts diverge. The Rangers had gotten a pair of Swedish forwards from the World Hockey Association's Winnipeg Jets: Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson.

Interestingly enough, Nilsson wore Number 11 for the Rangers, previously worn by Hadfield, and later worn by the man who ended up finally breaking the drought, Mark Messier.

The way Ranger fans remember it, during that epic '79 series, Islander defenseman and Captain Denis Potvin crashed Nilsson into the boards with a vicious illegal hit, and Nilsson never played again, causing the Rangers to lose the Stanley Cup Finals to the Montreal Canadiens.

The story isn't true, and they damn well know it. The incident happened in a regular-season game on February 25, 1979, a game the Rangers won 3-2. Nilsson chased the puck, and got his skate caught in the boards. Potvin did hit him, and the hit did break Nilsson's ankle. But no penalty was called on the play, because the hit was legal.

In 2009, in an interview for the 30th Anniversary of the incident, around the time the photo below was taken, Nilsson said of Potvin, "He was always fair. But the ice was never great in the Garden, because they had basketball and other events. My foot got caught. It was a freak thing."

And Nilsson did return in time to play in the Finals against the Canadiens. The Canadiens won anyway, which should have surprised no one, as it was their 4th straight Cup, their 10th in a span of 15 years. The only surprising thing was that the Rangers won Game 1 at the Montreal Forum, before the Habs took the next 4 straight.

Nilsson could have been fine all season long, and it wouldn't have meant a damn, because the late Seventies Habs may have been the greatest hockey team ever assembled, with 10 future Hall-of-Famers, including Guy Lafleur and future Devils head coaches Jacques Lemaire and Larry Robinson. (Denis Brodeur, Marty's father, was the team photographer.)

The hit didn't end Nilsson's season, let alone his career: He played 2 more seasons, and part of a 3rd, before he hung up his skates.

For over 40 years -- meaning most of current Ranger fandom wasn't even born when this happened, though the color videotape of the incident survives to prove to them that the story they've been told is a bald-faced lie -- Ranger fans have chanted, "POTVIN SUCKS!"

Denis Potvin didn't suck. He didn't even stink. He is on the short list for the title of greatest hockey player in Tri-State Area history, right up there with Frank Boucher, Brian Leetch and Martin Brodeur. And... let's tell the truth here... according to the rules of the game, he did nothing wrong in the incident in question. For most of that 1993 expansion franchise's history, he has been a broadcaster for the Miami area's team, the Florida Panthers.

Once the Islanders won the Cup on May 24, 1980, on Bobby Nystrom's overtime goal in Game 6 against the Philadelphia Flyers, the brief Ranger resurgence was effectively over: There was only one team in the Tri-State Area, and it was the Uniondale club.

So when the teams got together, either in Hempstead or in Manhattan, Ranger fans would chant, "Potvin sucks!" and Islander fans, invoking the Rangers' last title, would chant, "NINE-teen-FOR-ty!" (Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap!) They would also, instead of insulting a single player, insult the entire team: "Rangers suck!"

So perhaps we can settle on a date: November 22, 1980. It was the first time the Rangers and Islanders had played each other since the Isles won the Cup. It was at the Nassau Coliseum, and the Isles won 6-4. The "Rangers suck!" and "1940!" chants rang out, and there was nothing Ranger fans could say that could cancel that out -- try as they might with "Potvin sucks!"

Ranger fans got even more frustrated after that, turning into, along with Raider fans, the closest thing that North American sports had to the hooligans then doing their damnedest to ruin soccer in England.

Today, the strip of asphalt between Penn Station and The Garden is reserved for delivery vehicles. But in the 1980s, it was a taxi stand. And it, more than Harlem, the Lower East Side, the South Bronx, or anywhere in Brooklyn, was probably the most dangerous place in New York City.

It wasn't just because New York cabdrivers tend to be maniacs. It was because Ranger fans tend to be maniacs. It was especially dangerous after a Ranger-Islander game, as Isles fans tried to get back downstairs into Penn Station, to take the Long Island Rail Road home. Having had enough pregame and in-game time to get liquored up, the kind of police presence the Yankees need when the Red Sox come to town was needed pretty much anytime the Isles came to The Garden.

The Rangers finally won the Stanley Cup again in 1994, defeating both the Islanders and the New Jersey Devils in the Playoffs along the way, and ending a 54-year drought. Were Ranger fans gracious in victory? Of course not: They became more obnoxious than ever.

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February 25, 1979 was a Sunday. There were 3 other games played in the NHL that day:

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals, 8-5 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Colorado Rockies, 8-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* And the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 2-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

There were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association, which was in its final season:

* The Cincinnati Stingers and the Quebec Nordiques played to a tie, 1-1 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the New England Whalers, 7-5 at the Springfield Civic Center (now the MassMutual Center) in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Whalers were playing there while repairs were made to the Hartford Civic Center, after its roof collapsed in a snowstorm the previous year.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Birmingham Bulls, 5-4 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

After the season, the Nordiques, the Jets, the Whalers and the Oilers would be admitted to the NHL. The Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche in 1995, the Jets became the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes in 1996, and the Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997. An expansion team, the Atlanta Thrashers, began play in 1999, and became the new Winnipeg Jets in 2011.

Baseball and football were out of season. But there were 9 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New Jersey Nets beat the New York Knicks, 116-102 at the Rutgers Athletic Center (now the Jersey Mike's Arena) in Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Golden State Warriors, 99-89 at the Capital Centre. Yes, it hosted an NBA game and an NHL game on the same day.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Detroit Pistons, 126-119 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls, 117-108 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Houston Rockets, 127-107 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* The Kansas City Kings beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 114-106 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Denver Nuggets, 119-111 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The San Diego Clippers beat the Boston Celtics, 131-116 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Lloyd Free, nicknamed "All-World," led all scorers on the day with 38 points. In 1981, he changed his name to World B. Free.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers, 118-108 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

Also, actress Jennifer Ferrin was born on this day.