NHL

Rangers defeat Penguins, 5-1, force Game 6 Sunday at Garden

PITTSBURGH — The emotion hung in the air like a thick fog, and if there were some mist along with that inside the Rangers locker room, it was understandable.

Because Friday night at Consol Energy Center was ripe with feeling and passion, a hockey team playing for one of their own who was going through personal heartbreak, and in turn, extending their season at least one more game.

Just one day after the passing of the mother of veteran forward Martin St. Louis, the Rangers trounced the Penguins with a 5-1 triumph in Game 5 of their best-of-seven second-round series to avoid elimination and force Game 6 at the Garden on Sunday night, with Pittsburgh’s lead cut to 3-2.

“She was a great lady, best human being I’ve ever known in my life,” said St. Louis, who landed in Pittsburgh on Thursday, had the news delivered, flew immediately to his native Montreal, and then returned on Friday in time for the game.

“I owed it to her to do it,” he said of his mother, France, who was 63 and reportedly died of the aftereffects of a heart attack. “I know she would want me to do it. It was a tough day for everyone, but we’re going to keep pushing.”

When St. Louis got back to Montreal, he had a chance to see his mother’s body, then had a heart-to-heart conversation with his father, Normand.

“I think he needed that too, me to play,” said St. Louis, who still doesn’t have a point in this series, but had one shot on net in three attempts over 16:19 Friday night. “I know he’s proud and I know my mom’s proud now.”

The Rangers can be proud of their performance as well, rebounding after a disastrous 4-2 loss in Game 4 on Wednesday at the Garden, a game that seemingly spelled the end of their season coming swiftly.

But they got out to an early lead Friday, scored two power-play goals — honestly, they did — and put together an admirable job of containing Pittsburgh’s elite talent, the only slip-up coming early in the second period when Evgeni Malkin made an all-world move around Marc Staal and Dan Girardi to score and cut the Rangers’ lead to 2-1.

But within five minutes of that goal, Derick Brassard scored his second of the night to make it 3-1, and a resurgent Ryan McDonagh added another on the power play, to give the Rangers a 4-1 lead that was not threatened.

“There is a lot of emotion, and there is still,” said Brassard, whose line, with Benoit Pouliot and Mats Zuccarello, was dominant all night, finishing with a combined six points. “It’s not easy, honestly. You don’t want that to happen to anyone.

“When we landed at the airport [on Thursday], we had to go [to the hotel]. But if we didn’t have to go, I bet the whole team would have went with him.”

Now the whole team gets to go with St. Louis back to New York, with a chance to become just the 27th team out of 267 since the playoffs expanded in 1987 to come back from 3-1 down to win. It’s a tall task, surely, but so was this one game.

“He’s been through so much and it puts a lot of things in perspective,” said Chris Kreider, who scored the game-opening goal on a first-period power play, snapping the team’s goalless streak of 36 consecutive man-advantage chances, followed by Brassard’s first of the night five minutes later to make it 2-0.

“Tonight, we weren’t so much playing for ourselves,” Kreider said, “but we were playing for Marty and for the St. Louis family.”

With Game 6 being on Mother’s Day, well, dedications will not be necessary.