The Battle of New York is going outside in New Jersey at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
It’s been 423 days since the Rangers and Islanders last saw one another in the regular season, a fact that sounds just as absurd as it is a disservice to the NHL and New York hockey fans.
Call it a buildup or just an anomaly, but all there really is to say is that it’s about damn time.
“Two teams in New York not seeing each other for a year,” Vincent Trocheck said. “It’s definitely rare, I’d say.”
The Rangers will put their perfect 4-0 record in outdoor games on the line Sunday when they will also have a chance to become the first team in NHL history to win five in a row in such a setting.
More importantly, their second season-high, six-game win streak will either be put to an end or extended.
As much as this event is meant to be enjoyed and savored, the Rangers cannot lose sight of the significance of the two points that are up for grabs.
Sunday will mark the first of 15 Metropolitan Division games the Rangers have over their final 28 contests.
The Islanders, who the Rangers will face three more times after Sunday, are fighting for a wild-card spot while sitting in fifth place in the division.
Only one point separated the Isles and Devils before the latter took on the Flyers in the first outdoor game at MetLife on Saturday night.
“[The Islanders are] playing really well,” said head coach Peter Laviolette, who will tie Joel Quenneville for the most outdoor games for a head coach with five. “You look at their lineup, they’ve got a really good balance, really good depth. Good forwards, good defensemen, good goaltending.
“And then it’s just New York versus New York, it’s going to be a great game.”
Read the expert take on the Blueshirts
Sign up for Larry Brooks' Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.
Thank you
It’s been six years since the Blueshirts last played outside in the 2018 Winter Classic, a 3-2 overtime win over the Sabres at Citi Field, as well as over a decade since they last faced the Islanders in the elements.
Chris Kreider is the only Ranger left who participated in that 2-1 win, while Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin, Cal Clutterbuck and Brock Nelson are all holdovers for the Islanders.
That was a much different time, and the Rangers could have some new blood in their lineup when they take the MetLife Stadium ice.
Matt Rempe is primed to become the first player in history to make his NHL debut in an outdoor game.
Like most hockey players, skating outside was a major part of Rempe’s childhood in Calgary.
A game of shinny with friends on a pond in Alberta, however, doesn’t quite compare to participating in the greatest hockey league in the world for the first time in front of a packed football stadium.
It’ll be grand. Not just for Rempe, but every Ranger and Islander.
It’ll be fun.
Just like every hockey players’ memories of playing outdoors.
It’ll be another chapter in the Battle of New York.
“I think everybody wants to soak it in and make sure that you’re really relishing the moment, how awesome of an experience it is to play in an outdoor game,” Trocheck said. “But once you get on the ice, it’s all business and it’s all just another game in the regular season.”