5 best and bloodiest rivalries in the history of the NHL

4. New York Rangers vs. New York Islanders

The Battle of New York is a tried and true city rivalry that only comes from the pressure of having two teams in the same market. As one of two cities in the NHL with two or more teams (if you’re counting the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, which both cities lie within the Los Angeles metropolitan area, so it’s close enough), the New York metropolitan rivalry is fierce for bragging rights.

While the New Jersey Devils’ rivalry with the Rangers is also noteworthy, the bad blood between the Rangers and Islanders is born of historic hatred between city districts in Manhattan and Brooklyn — much like the New York Yankees and New York Mets.

Over the course of this rivalry, the Rangers and Islanders have been pretty even in terms of matchups against one another. As of January 2019, the Rangers have won the overall matchup battle 146-144, while the Islanders hold the playoff matchup battle 20-19 and have won five of eight playoff series.

Maybe the most iconic brawl of this rivalry came on April 4, 1998, which featured a goaltender fight between Dan Cloutier and Tommy Salo, with the Rangers netminder chirping the entire Islanders bench after his fight.

We haven’t seen a playoff matchup between these two New York rivals since 1994, when the Rangers swept the Islanders in the conference quarterfinals en route to a Stanley Cup. However, these two teams possess enough bad blood for any future playoff matchup to be a must-see event after such a long wait.