Why They Never Met
It’s hard to imagine why the Bruins and Rangers have taken over 40 years to meet again in the playoffs. There was of course the 2004-05 season was lost to a lockout, and neither team made the playoffs in the 1999-00 and 2000-01 seasons, and the Bruins were also out of the post-season in 1996-97, as well as the two seasons following the lockout – 2005-06 and 2006-07.
The Rangers further missed out in 1975-76, which was also the year that the Rangers traded Brad Park and Jean Ratelle to the Bruins for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais. They missed the following season too. They further missed in 1987-88 and 1992-93, the year before they won the Cup.