There was a void, and stepping right in to help fill it was Martin St. Louis.
It took some time for the newest Ranger to get used to his surroundings, but what didn’t take much time was how St. Louis stepped right into the role as a leader on this team, which is now bound for the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 20 years.
“Enjoy the moment right now,” St. Louis said in the locker room after the 1-0 series-clinching triumph over the Canadiens in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final on Thursday.
He was speaking not just to reporters, but to his team. It’s something he seems to do often — not exactly answering questions as much as he is delivering a message.
“We are not done,” St. Louis continued, his team now waiting for the winner of the Kings-Blackhawks series to see who they face in the finals, starting Wednesday in the city of the Western Conference team. “It’s going to be fun — and obviously take it all in — but leave it out there, as well.”
The authority in his voice is well earned. The 38-year-old winger is a slam-dunk Hall of Famer whenever he decides to call it a career. He was one of just two players on the Garden ice Thursday who had been there before with the Prince of Wales Trophy as victors of the Eastern Conference. And although he has been with the Blueshirts less than three months, the team looks to him for advice.
Conferring with Brad Richards, a friend of St. Louis and teammate for the 2004 Cup-winning Lightning, the two told the team not to touch the trophy.
“No one else was dressed that’s been there,” Richards said. “If half the team was there, maybe we would have had more debate on the ice, but it wasn’t much debate.”
There did not need to be debate about how important St. Louis has been to the team since coming over from Tampa Bay at the March 5 trade deadline. The deal that brought him here sent away
Rangers captain Ryan Callahan, who indisputably was the vocal leader in the locker room and the example of sacrifice on the ice.
Although St. Louis could muster just one goal in 19 regular-season games — it coming shorthanded, no less — his experience has shone through in the postseason, where he is tied for the team lead with 13 points, six goals and seven assists.
After spending the past 13-plus seasons in Tampa Bay, St. Louis has now rejoined Richards to help reform the Rangers’ leadership group, a unified bunch with a singular goal of winning a championship.
“I’ll be honest, it’s hard to believe,” Richards said about being reunited with St. Louis. “Ten years goes by so quick. … I would never have thought we’d be here today in New York doing it.
Even to start the season, I never imagined Marty being here.
“So the fact that all of that has come back, it’s great. We’ve created so many friendships this year. Our group has come together so much, but obviously Marty and I go back a long way. And we don’t want it to be about us, but it’s still a pretty cool feeling.”
St. Louis also has been an emotional focal point for the team this postseason, having suffered through the death of his mother, France, in the middle of the second-round series against the Penguins. The galvanizing force of that heartbreaking event helped fuel a comeback from a 3-1 series deficit and created momentum that the team still is riding.
“Obviously, it’s been a tough year for me,” St. Louis said. “This makes it pretty cool. Being somewhere for 13, 14 years and changing teams and to get a chance to play in the Stanley Cup final
with these teammates of mine, who have been nothing but great through my tough time in the past few weeks, it makes it even more special.
“I am proud to be a Ranger and do it alongside these great teammates.”