![]() After being routed in Games 4 and 5, the Rangers faced elimination in New Jersey for Game 6, with the Devils attempting to make the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history. The Rangers responded by routing the Devils 4–0 in Game 2, and used a double overtime goal by Stephane Matteau to take a 2–1 lead after Game 3. However, all ideas of a quick New York series were soon ended after Game 1, a 4–3 double overtime victory that was sealed by the Devils' Stephane Richer. In comparison, the Devils' road was much harder, as they needed all seven games to oust the Buffalo Sabres in the first round and needed six games to eliminate the Boston Bruins in the Conference Semifinals. Keenan replied, "I want to play Game 7 of the Stanley Cup (Finals) in Madison Square Garden." The Rangers reached the Conference Finals with relative ease by sweeping their crosstown rivals, the Islanders, and beating the Washington Capitals in five games. In response, the New York news media pushed Rangers Head Coach Mike Keenan to push the Rangers to winning the Presidents' Trophy as the League's top regular season team. In the final weeks of the regular season, the Devils were chasing the Rangers for the best record in the NHL. ![]() The rivalry's most famous moments, however, are centered around the significance of the teams' meetings during the 1993––95 seasons.Īlthough both teams were the top point-getters in the NHL during the Rangers' championship season of 1993–94 (the Presidents' Trophy-winning Rangers netting 112 and the Devils notching 106), the story entering the Eastern Conference Finals was the Rangers' 6–0 record against New Jersey that regular season. Their first playoff meeting occurred during the 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs, when the Presidents' Trophy-winning Rangers survived a seven-game Patrick Division Semifinals series with the Devils. Despite the Devils' overall Stanley Cup playoff superiority since the 1990s, the first three playoff series between these teams were all Rangers victories. For over 35 years, fans of both the Rangers and Devils have seen the best out of both their clubs whenever they meet. For the relocation, they were required to pay massive indemnities to the Rangers, New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers, geographically-proximate teams, for the right to share New Jersey market. The rivalry began in 1982 when the Colorado Rockies moved to New Jersey to become the Devils. All three teams have fierce, bitter rivalries with each other, as well as with the other (now formerly) Atlantic Division teams, the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. The Devils and Rangers are two of the three teams that play in the New York City metropolitan area, the other being the New York Islanders. Travel between both arenas is easily accomplished by both road (usually through the Lincoln Tunnel) and rail (along the Northeast Corridor and PATH). The two teams are called "cross-river rivals." This is because Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan, where the Rangers play, is across the Hudson River and less than 10 miles from the Prudential Center in downtown Newark (and previously, the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford), the home of the Devils. The Devils–Rangers rivalry (also known as the Hudson River rivalry or the Battle of the Hudson River), is an ice hockey rivalry between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers clubs of the National Hockey League (NHL). 2012 Conference Finals: Devils won, 4–2.2008 Conference Quarterfinals: Rangers won, 4–1.2006 Conference Quarterfinals: Devils won, 4–0.1997 Conference Semifinals: Rangers won, 4–1.1994 Conference Finals: Rangers won, 4–3. ![]()
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