The 1994 Conn Smythe Trophy playoff MVP remembers “We’ll Win Tonight.” How could he forget his buddy’s guarantee?
Hall of Famer Brian Leetch said it took the Rangers’ minds off other major issues.
“We were already dealing with Game 4, when Mike [Keenan] sat me and Mark for several shifts,” Leetch told The Post. “[Keenan] was telling everyone we were hurt, and we weren’t hurt.
“So we were focusing on that, and more questions about having to go into New Jersey and win.”
Then Messier uttered his promise, and that historic Battle of the Hudson turned.
“I don’t think that being prepared with something to say in the paper was ever in his mind,” Leetch said. “We hadn’t talked about it, the two of us, or as a group.
“I don’t think he was thinking any further ahead than the game and what had to be done and how he needed to play.”
Messier declined comment, saying through a spokesman that he’d “like to keep the focus on these players who have worked so hard to get to this point. They have earned and deserve that respect.”
The morning of Game 6, Leetch saw the paper.
“I just laughed because of the way it was framed. I knew it was a big deal, but to see it [played] that way was funny,” Leetch said. “I thought, ‘Well, we’ve added fuel to the fire.’
“And with Mark, there was no running away from it, or wishing he hadn’t said that.”
Leetch said the guarantee didn’t light a fire under the team, which was still losing in the third period of Game 6 until Messier started scoring his hat trick.
“I don’t think it was a factor, either way,” Leetch said. “But we’d built that trust, and we knew he believed in what we could accomplish.”
Leetch, one of the MSG postgame analysts, said he doesn’t expect a repeat of Game 5, when the Devils went up three goals, were caught, and won in the third.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if [Henrik] Lundqvist is one of the best players on the ice,” Leetch said. “I think the Rangers have their legs back.”
He wouldn’t predict — or guarantee — victory, but said he expects a “low-scoring game.”