Flyers and Rangers set for first postseason battle since 1997

The Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers have played each other 93 times since their last playoff meeting, but a Philadelphia victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday ensured they will wait no longer.

Philadelphia and New York will battle in the Metropolitan Division semifinals with nearly two decades of bragging rights at stake.

The two storied division rivals have not squared off in the postseason since 1997, when the Eric Lindros-led Flyers downed a Rangers team that included a reunited Wayne Gretzky-Mark Messier tandem in five games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. It was the third straight series victory for Philadelphia, who also swept New York in the 1995 conference semifinals and won a 1987 first-round series against the Rangers in six games.

The Flyers defeated the Rangers in seven games in the 1974 conference finals - the first time the teams met in the postseason - en route to the franchise's first Stanley Cup championship. The Rangers won the 1979 conference semifinals in five games before Philadelphia returned the favor in 1980, but New York took three of the next four first-round series leading up to 1987.

Both teams have experienced some recent playoff success, with the Flyers advancing to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final and the Rangers earning a conference final berth in 2012. They split their four-game season series, with each game falling according to home-ice advantage.

The Rangers are guaranteed home ice for the series even if the Flyers match them at 95 points because New York holds the regulation and overtime wins tiebreaker.