The Rangers’ first-round series against the Canadiens will mark the 16th time the teams have met in the playoffs, the most of any opponent in Rangers history. (The Rangers won eight of the first 15.)
The teams’ most recent encounter was in the Eastern Conference final in 2014, in which the Rangers won the series, 4-2. But even those stakes do not match those in 1979, when they met in the Stanley Cup Final.
That series is not as well remembered around here as the Rangers’ six-game upset of the Islanders in the prior round, one of the most memorable series in New York hockey history.