When the New York Rangers invade Chicago's United Center tonight for the 289th time, it will be the 576th meeting of the two Original Six teams. The host Blackhawks lead the rivalry with 241 wins to 235 losses. They've tied 99 times. The Rangers won both meetings last season, including a 3-2 overtime victory in Chicago this past January.

While the franchises have captured seven Stanley Cups -- the Rangers won in 1928, 1933, 1940 and 1994 while Chicago won in 1934, 1938 and 1961 -- they have never met in a Stanley Cup Final and they haven't met in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 1973.

But that doesn't mean they haven't shared a great history. In fact, the Rangers were the foils in Chicago for one of the greatest goals in the annals of the NHL, Bobby Hull's record- setting 51st goal in 1966.

Bill Hay, now the chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame and an Honoured Member himself, remembers the play and the commotion that followed. Hay centered Hull through most of the decade.

Hay didn't care who Hull scored his 51st goal of the season against and he didn't care if it was a goal off Hull's famed curved stick or a deflection off the Golden Jet's butt -- he just wanted the distraction to end and for his team to get back to business.

The night was March 12, 1966, and the Rangers were in town to play the Blackhawks at Chicago Stadium, the loudest building in sports. No player had ever scored more than 50 goals in a season and Hull stood on the verge of an historic record-breaking event.

Maurice "Rocket" Richard had scored 50 goals in his second NHL season, 1944-45, but hadn't approached it again in his final 15 seasons. Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion scored 50 goals in 1960-61, the year Hull, Hay, Stan Mikita, goalie Glenn Hall and a great cast of teammates won Chicago's first Stanley Cup in 23 years.

Hull had also scored 50 goals in a season, in 1961-62.

And, here was again with 50, facing a last-place Rangers team in the waning years of the Original Six era. Cesare Maniago, who would go on to great things in the expansion era, was getting his third NHL chance in seven years with his third NHL team, having played seven games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1960-61 and 14 with the Montreal Canadiens in 1962-63.

Hay remembers the Blackhawks and Rangers were about six minutes into the third period when Hull got his historic power-play goal to tie the game at 2-2. Hull and Hay were playing with Lou Angotti, whom the Rangers had sold to Chicago in January.

"Lou Angotti passed the puck up to me and went to the bench," Hay recalled. "Eric Nesterenko replaced him and went straight to the front of the net. I found Hull around the point and he just one-timed it on net, with power. It just went in through the power of Bobby's shot. Even if Maniago got a piece of it, it would have just gone by him.

"I'm not sure if it didn't go in off Nesterenko, but I wasn't going to let them question that," Hay continued. "The pressure on Bobby to get 51 after he'd gotten that 50th goal was hurting the team. I just said, 'That's Bobby's goal and now we can get on with the game and with making the playoffs.'"

Hull would get three more goals that season for his NHL career-high 54. He led the NHL in scoring with 97 points and won his second-straight Hart Trophy that year.

"When I'm 65, I'll sit around and tell my grandchildren how I got an assist on Bobby Hull's big goal," Angotti told Sports Illustrated after the game. "I'll tell them how I helped him score it while I was sitting on the bench. That's right. That's where I was."

What happened next was one of the most memorable moments in this history of the National Hockey League. Blackhawks fans rose in their seats and gave Hull a seven-minute standing ovation while the famed Chicago Stadium organ roared.

"They're such good people in the Midwest," Hay said. "Salt of the Earth. Our fans had good blue-collar jobs and really followed the game. It was easy for us to become friends with them because we didn't wear helmets and we didn't drive in under the stadium. We walked in the front door and talked to them every night and we really enjoyed that.

"I'll never forget that night because of how noisy it was, with the organ getting really noisy," Hay said. "That goal was very big at that time. 'Rocket' had gotten 50 goals in 50 games and his record had stood for over 20 years. For Bobby to break that record at that time and in Chicago Stadium, it was a very big deal."