There was a swell of emotion and inspiration for one game, and it kept the Rangers’ season afloat. Now, the depth of that motivation will be tested.
And what awaits the Rangers on Sunday night at the Garden is another sentimental event seemingly out of a Hollywood movie script — and a predictable one, at that. They face potential elimination in Game 6 as the Penguins come into Manhattan, the Rangers down in this second-round best-of-seven series, 3-2.
On the ice will be Martin St. Louis, playing the second straight game since his mother, France, died at the age of 63 on Thursday afternoon.
St. Louis flew to his native Montreal after finding out about her death Thursday, but returned in time for Friday’s must-win Game 5 in Pittsburgh, a rousing 5-1 triumph flooded with emotion. After that game, St. Louis flew back to Quebec, spent Saturday with his father, Normand, and his sister, and the three were to fly back together in time for Sunday night.
It will be another day with a mourning member of the St. Louis family on the ice, and this one will also include two mourning family members in the stands. A day that also happens to be Mother’s Day.
“Marty last night, and Mother’s Day tomorrow,” forward Brad Richards said on a conference call Saturday afternoon. “We’ll try to use that as motivation.”
The team got back to New York on Saturday afternoon, after they were stuck in Pittsburgh after the game due to fog. To a player, the locker room on Friday night was united in saying that the game was played in honor of St. Louis, who only has been with the Rangers since a March 5 trade with the Lightning, but already has ingratiated himself deeply into the fabric of the team.
Everyone sympathizes with how difficult this situation has been for St. Louis, and the hope for the Rangers is that the wave of inspiration does not crash on another night when they are trying to stave off the summer.
“I do know it’s going to be an emotional night for our group,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “We’ve been able to fight through adversity and through some of these moments. We’ve been able to focus in some of the right areas. That’s what we were able to do [Friday] night, focus in the right areas. Right now, if our intentions are on continuing to play, we have to win.”
What showed the impact of the St. Louis heartbreak was the fact the Rangers had lost Game 4 is such disheartening fashion, a 4-2 drubbing when they turned the puck over like a hot potato and seemed to be beckoning for the offseason to come as quickly as possible. But in the wake of sadness, they found motivation, and they hope there is more where that came from.
“The last 24 hours, it was tough,” said Richards, who calls St. Louis his best friend, and who had France St. Louis patting the belly of his pregnant fiancé just 10 days prior. “We all wanted to go back to Montreal with Marty. Nobody wanted to see him flying out alone.
“But to see him come back and the spirits he was in, and have our team rally around it, I’ve never seen anything like that. It’s special, but you don’t want to be in those situations too often.”
The Rangers have a tailor-made continuation of this script, which if completed, can force a decisive Game 7 in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. But to get there, they have to win another game — another emotional game.
“From our standpoint, we don’t have a choice,” Vigneault said. “Our level of play, our level of execution, our level of compete and desperation has to be as high as it can be.”