NEW YORK - It had been 54 years since the New York Rangers had won the Stanley Cup. To help fix that problem, the Rangers brough in Mark Messier, former captain of the Edmonton Oilers, to lead the blueshirts back to hockey glory. The pressure was on the bald captain to perform.
The 1993-94 season was Messier's third with the Rangers, and it was the season everything finally clicked. They had the best record in hockey and eased through the first two rounds of the playoffs with only one loss. In the Eastern Conference finals, however, the Rangers ran into their rivals from across the river, the New Jersey Devils.
The Devils gave the Rangers all they could handle and then some. The Devils tied Game 1 with less than a minute to play in regulation, then went on to win in double overtime. After a Rangers shutout in Game 2, Game 3 again went to double-overtime, with a Stephane Matteau goal giving New York a 2-1 series lead. After the Devils won games 4 and 5, Messier announced to the New York media and Rangers fans that the Rangers would not lose Game 6. The captain backed up his promise, getting a natural hat trick in the third period to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 win. The stage was set for Game 7 at Madison Square Garden.
Game 7 was a showdown between goaltenders Martin Brodeur and Mark Richter. After Brian Leetch scored to put the Rangers ahead, Richter stood his ground, shutting out the Devils for the first 59 minutes. The Rangers were 7 seconds away from advancing to the Cup final when New Jersey's Valeri Zelepukin tied the game. After a first overtime, the teams went to a second overtime for the third time in that series. Then....
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