The Rangers brave the elements this Sunday as they put their perfect 4-0 record outdoors at MetLife Stadium against the Islanders.
The Blues will have to cross one tunnel or bridge to get to the game, while their opponents will have to cross two, but the Islanders will be the home team due to a clause in the Rangers’ lease that they will lose their tax agreement with the city , should they ever be designated as the home team at a local venue outside of Madison Square Garden.
Obviously, the last change is not worth tens of millions of dollars.
This will be the Rangers’ third outdoor game under the Stadium Series imprimatur after playing a pair of Winter Classics.
It will also be their first football stadium after playing at three different grounds.
Here are The Post’s rankings for the Blueshirts’ past four outdoor games:
4. Jan. 29, 2014: Rangers 2, Islanders 1, at Yankee Stadium
It’s something of a foundling of the club’s outdoor adventures, a Wednesday night game in a chilly 22 degrees, coming just three days after they beat the Devils in the Bronx.
More than 50,000 packed the big court for the second time in three days, this time to see Daniel Carcillo score the 2-1 winner early in the third period after Brock Nelson and Benoit Pouliot had traded goals at the end of the second period. Henrik Lundqvist beat Yevgeny Nabokov at the net.
Much of the drama surrounding this has centered on Ryan Callahan’s contract status as an upcoming free agent with the trade deadline just over a month away. Spoiler alert: The captain was sent to Tampa Bay in a trade for Marty St. Louis.
3. Jan. 1, 2018: Rangers 3, Sabers 2 (OT), in Winter Classic at Citi Field
No one would have known it at the time, but that triumph, forged by JT Miller’s goal at 2:43 of OT in front of 41,821 in the bitter cold of Queens, represented the high point of a season that would soon be marked by The Clear letter and deadline.
The win, in which Lundqvist edged Robin Lehner, moved the club to 21-13-5. The Blueshirts then went 1-4 in their next five, 3-7 in their next 10 and 4-11 in their next 15 to seal the fate of head coach Alain Vigneault’s team.
2. Jan. 26, 2014: Rangers 7, Devils 3, at Yankee Stadium
Under gray skies in front of a packed stadium enjoying 25-degree weather, the Rangers crushed Martin Brodeur on an afternoon when the legendary netminder looked like he wanted to be anywhere but the Bronx.
Brodeur was chosen to start the most important game out of respect after recently falling to second on the depth chart behind Cory Schneider. After New Jersey took a 3-2 lead in the first period, the Blueshirts scored four goals in the second for a 6-3 lead, sending Brodeur to the bench for the third period. Derek Stepan then scored on a penalty kick against Schneider in the third.
1. Jan. 2, 2012: Rangers 3, Flyers 2, at Citizens Bank Park
The granddaddy of them all for the Rangers will be hard to beat, even if the team plays a hundred more in open facilities.
It was the Winter Classic in which Lundqvist turned over Daniel Briere on a penalty shot with 20 seconds left in the third period after a foul call, followed by some incredible ones in favor of the Flyers.
Then-Blueshirts head coach John Tortorella picked up on the hockey version of QAnon, hinting in his postgame press conference that the league was in agreement with NBC so the game could go to overtime. Tortorella was fined $30,000 by the league and then issued a statement the next day denying he said anything he said.
The match, delayed by two hours due to sunlight, was played in a pleasant 41 degree weather.
Mike Rupp, who scored twice for the Rangers after the Flyers took a 2-0 lead, saluted Jaromir Jagr after the first. The Flyers’ Jagr left for good in the second half with a leg injury. The Blueshirts then won it on a goal by Brad Richards early in the third period.
The festivities had begun a day earlier with a Legends/Oldtimers game in which Blueshirt Alumni coach Mike Keenan shorted his bench for the entire third period, angering a whole new group of Rangers who had never had the privilege of playing before for him.
