NHL

Former Rangers defenseman Beukeboom ready for Game 7

Home-ice has meant little in the playoffs, but former Rangers defenseman Jeff Beukeboom thinks it can be the difference Thursday night.

The Senators are 4-1 at Madison Square Garden this season, including wins in two of three games in their first round series against the Rangers, but the 47-year-old Beukeboom, who played in five Game 7’s in his 13-year career, doesn’t believe it’s a coincidence he was part of Rangers teams that were 3-0 in deciding games played at home, in 1992 and 1994.

“I think the importance of home-ice is not what it used to be, but for a Game 7 I think it’s still really important,” Beukeboom told The Post. “This year I just keep hearing the stats about home-ice and how teams are underperforming, but I think Game 7 is a different animal because of the fact that you got your crowd and you play all year to get home-ice advantage for this game. It’s about what you did all year to prepare for this Game 7 and why you’re having Game 7 at home.”

The Rangers last hosted a deciding game in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals against Vancouver, when led by coach Mike Keenan, who took the team to the title after two Game 7’s. Now a hockey analyst with MSG, Keenan said he liked being in New York, with an expectation of winning, but when the Rangers were confronted with the end of their run, Keenan tried to make the players forget everyone that wasn’t wearing a jersey.

“I tried to defuse some of the expectations and the pressures of playing in New York City,” said Keenan, who coached in 10 Game 7’s in his career. “I said, ‘You guys only have one responsibility left, to play hard for each other.’ I didn’t want them to think that we have the responsibility of the whole city and the organization. We all knew what the expectations were of everybody from the outside of the confines of that dressing room, but I wanted to keep the focus on the dressing room.

“They played relaxed. That was the most important thing.”

howard.kussoy@nypost.com