This will be the second Game 7 of the posteason for both the Rangers and the Lightning, and Mike “Doc” Emrick was there the first time both teams survived hockey’s ultimate test.
Emrick has called those two Games 7s so far this postseason and will be calling two more on two different coasts on Friday and Saturday, going from Friday’s tilt at The Garden to Saturday’s showdown in Anaheim between the Ducks and Blackhawks.
While some of the players are somewhat new to Game 7s, Emrick has been calling them for nearly 30 years.
“It never gets old. The thrill for fans and for us who can’t play in it — the anticipation of a seventh game,” Emrick told The Post.
“For the players, it’s being in it. We often sit in the booth and talk about the tension we see on the faces of fans and players. But, ask the players and, as Brent Seabrook of the Blackhawks said to me just last week, ‘It’s fun.’ So much is riding on it, how can it be? But it is.”
The Rangers-Lightning Eastern Conference final already has been an emotional roller coaster with momentum swinging wildly from game-to-game and within each contest. That came after the Rangers’ Game 7 thriller against the Capitals in the semifinals, which they won 2-1 in overtime on a Derek Stepan goal.
“The atmosphere is different,” Emrick said. “There is a nervous quiet at times because fans know their history. They know the difference between winning and losing a seventh game is very small.
“Whether they were alive when [Johan] Garpenlov hit the crossbar in overtime [in 1994 for the Sharks vs. the Maple Leafs] or Tim Thomas stopped Steve Downie [in 2011 for the Bruins vs. the Lightning]. They know it can hinge on one accidental play, like Steve Smith into his own net [in 1986 for the Oilers vs. the Flames] or one penalty call with [too many men for the Bruins vs. the Canadiens in 1979] or one overwhelming third period comeback [for Bruins vs. the Maple Leafs in 2013].”
Of all the ones he’s called, Emrick most fondly remembers the Easter Epic in 1987 when he and Bill Clement were in the booth for Pat LaFontaine’s fourth-overtime goal for the Islanders against the Capitals.
“That will stay with me a long time,” Emrick said. “A moment like this is capped by the fact that it’s not just a seventh game, but overtime to boot.”
Who will be the hero on Friday night? Henrik Lundqvist would be a good bet. He has rebounded from giving up 12 goals combined in Games 2 and 3 against the powerful Lightning offense to bring the series to this point. Lundqvist is 15-3 in elimination games the past four seasons with a 1.47 goals-against average.
“It is no surprise that confidence comes from your goalie — especially on a team that is so defensively sound,” Emrick said. “The team tends to go with the goaltender. Hank bailed them out a lot of times this year … and when the Lightning started rolling after it was 1-0 [Rangers] on Tuesday, he held them in until it was out of reach. Confidence comes from that kind of performance.”