KING OF THE WORLD: Henrik Lundqvist, stopping Alexander Semin in the second period, made 22 saves last night vs. the Capitals in a 2-1 victory in Game 7. (
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Now the Rangers will get to try to make NHL history, and now, 18 years later, the Battle of the Hudson will again be for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final.
In 2012 as in 1994, it will be the Rangers against the Devils and Martin Brodeur in the Eastern Conference final, a matchup that will commence tomorrow night on Broadway with echoes not of “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!” ringing in everyone’s ears, but instead the rolling and roaring ovations the Rangers and the unconquerable King Henrik Lundqvist received from an ecstatic Garden crowd throughout the madness of last night’s 2-1 elimination of the Capitals in Game 7 .
The Rangers seized a 1-0 lead on Broadway Brad Richards’ goal just 1:32 into the match and played thereafter with confidence and a swagger borne from belief in their fiber and backed up by the exceptional work of Lundqvist.
Get this: If the Rangers-Devils series goes the distance, Game 6 would be played in New Jersey on May 25, the 18-year anniversary of Mark Messier’s “We’ll Win Tonight” Game 6, while Game 7 would be played on Broadway on May 27, the 18-year anniversary of Stephane Matteau’s double-overtime winner against then 22-year-old rookie Brodeur.
Do not, however, expect John Tortorella to become carnival barker for this celebration of hockey, for in the flush of his team’s second Game 7, 2-1 victory in two rounds, this one 16 days after the first-round elimination of the Senators, the Rangers’ coach made it clear his contribution will be limited to his work behind the bench.
“I know you’re going to [make your stories about Rangers-Devils] for the next couple of weeks, but don’t include me in it,” the party-pooper said after the victory. “We’re going to worry about the New York Rangers.”
Lundqvist, however, in his first conference final in his seven-year career, is only too happy to be part of the hoopla that will accompany this matchup.
“It’s going to be special to play a conference finals against the Devils, against a team you play a lot,” said The King, beaten only by Roman Hamrlik at 10:43 of the third, just 38 seconds after Michael Del Zotto had given the Rangers a 2-0 edge. “I think everybody’s looking forward to this.”
Well, almost everybody.
But of course Tortorella is looking forward to the challenge as the Rangers seek to become the first team to win the Stanley Cup after opening the playoffs with consecutive seven-game series since the NHL (and the tournament) expanded in 1967-68.
“We’re still in the middle of the process of the New York Rangers trying to become one of the elite teams, but this is a tremendous experience for us,” the coach said. “This is where your legacy is made, in the playoffs. It will be interesting to see where it goes.”
The Rangers joined the Battle of the Hudson by remaining faithful to their Black-and-Blueshirt identity after misplacing it somewhere around the Lincoln Memorial on their way to Game 6 in Washington.
They strapped on their hard hats and pressed the issue, using speed generated by the Richards-Marian Gaborik-Carl Hagelin unit and the reunited Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Ryan Callahan line to forecheck energetically and effectively, to keep the Capitals on their heels.
And when Washington was able to break out, the Rangers simply smothered the ever-dangerous and underused Alex Ovechkin — can you win this way? — by consistently eliminating his time and space.
And when the Capitals had the Rangers pinned for much of a six-minute stretch through the guts of the second period that included a shift on which the Rangers simply could not get out — Del Zotto on for 3:07, Stepan for 3:12 — Lundqvist was at his best.
“I’m looking forward to Hank winning the battle,” Richards said when asked about the Lundqvist-Brodeur matchup. “That’s all I’m looking forward to.”
Eighteen years later, the Rangers against Brodeur. Eighteen years later, the Battle of the Hudson, winner to the Stanley Cup Final.
larry.brooks@nypost.com