It has been 20 years since the Rangers had a chance at home to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Final, 20 years since Stephane Matteau ended Game 7 of that epochal Battle of the Hudson in 1994.
And so there is something different about Thursday night’s match at the Garden that could accurately be defined as the most important hockey game to be played in New York City in two decades.
Something different confronting the Blueshirts as they approached Game 6 of the Eastern finals, seeking to eliminate the Canadiens and capture the Prince of Wales Trophy awarded to the conference playoff champion.
Five previous times over the last three years the Rangers had won a clinching fourth game of a series — distinguished from a Game 4 — that is almost by definition the most difficult one to capture. Yet no one in the lineup for this one other than Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis — who were teammates for the Lightning’s 2004 Stanley Cup championship run that included a Game 7 victory over the Flyers in the eastern finals — had ever won the fourth game of the third round.
What’s that old adage? Oh, right: The 12th game is the hardest one to win.
“There’s always something at stake with every game, but now you can almost feel what winning this game means,” St. Louis said following the morning skate at the Garden. “The fourth of any series is the toughest, but as you progress, the rounds get tougher and tougher and so do the clinching games.
“You want it so bad that it’s difficult to prepare for it as just another game, but that’s what you have to do,” St. Louis said. “You have to be able to block out what it means if you win.
“You have to do the same things that make you successful. You can’t get away from that.”
The Rangers strayed as far as possible in their Game 5, 7-4 defeat in Montreal on Tuesday from what had made them a successful team. Their defensive play was chaotic, their puck management haphazard and their goaltending was sub-par. It made for a hat trick of disaster.
“The one thing I can see is the feeling that when players get so close, they can almost touch it,” Richards said. “It makes you want it even more without thinking about what got you there in the first place.
“Staying calm and in control is the most important thing. That’s what makes it difficult. Going through it can help.”
No one in the Rangers’ room had the least bit of concern about Henrik Lundqvist’s ability to rebound from his disappointing Game 5 performance in which he allowed four goals on 19 shots before being pulled in favor of Cam Talbot at 8:58 of the second period.
“Henrik’s career speaks for itself,” Richards said. “He’s one of the top goalies of the era. You don’t get to that point without being strong mentally and being able to bounce back.”
Losing a potential clincher is not necessarily a harbinger of defeat. Two years ago in the Final, the Kings lost Game 4 to the Devils at home with the opportunity to sweep and then lost Game 5 in New Jersey before winning the Cup back in LA in Game 6.
Examples abound, including those experienced by the Rangers, who had a chance to clinch Round One in Game 6 in Philadelphia, lost (with Lundqvist pulled after two periods) and then won Game 7 at home. In 2012, they had a chance to eliminate the Caps in Round Two in Game 6 in DC, lost, and then won Game 7 at home.
But for the Rangers, this is Round Three. For 18 of the 20 Rangers dressing for Game 6, this is uncharted territory.
“Obviously there is a different feel to it,” Marc Staal said. “You know what’s ahead if you win — the opportunity to play in the Stanley Cup Final, which is something you always dream of.
“But we can’t allow that possibility to affect how we play. We can’t be overly excited and we can’t be nervous about it, either. We just have to be ourselves.”
Said Richards, who with Staal and fellow alternate captain Dan Girardi would be called upon to receive the Prince of Wales Trophy: “When you get here, when you get that chance, you have to cherish it and try and have fun with it because it doesn’t come around very often.”
For the Rangers, once every 20 years.