Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1987! Or preferably, 1980.
New York Islanders vs. Philadelphia Flyers for a chance to move to the conference final. Orange vs. Orange. Methodical savages vs. greasy bullies.
We have two rabid and passionate fanbases whose teams have sure faced each other a lot in the preseason (sometimes twice in the same night, in different cities), but their regular season meetings have rarely involved both in contention for much of, oh, the past two decades or so.
As a reminder of how things have changed since Mike Keenan was a hard-driving coach and Ron Hextall was just their hotheaded rookie goalie.