20 years ago this morning - on May 25th, 1994 to be exact - millions upon millions of New York area hockey fans as well as both NJ Devils’ & NY Rangers’ players themselves rolled out of bed, picked up their morning newspapers, and lo and behold, had the distinct pleasure of reading the back pages that showed Rangers’ Captain Mark Douglas Messier - already a 5-time Stanley Cup Champion in Edmonton - boldly *guaranteeing* victory over the Devils in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals that was mere hours away from being played. Despite the fact that NJ held a precarious 3 games to 2 lead in the series but had won Game 5 in convincing fashion, Messier remained extremely confident in his team’s ability to come back and win the series outright to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. So much so, that he wanted his teammates to exude that same unwavering confidence by reading the now-legendary NY Post headline: “WE’LL WIN TONIGHT!” Of course, everyone – including Mark himself - knew it was one thing to *say* the right thing. It’s quite another to actually go out and do it. And initially, it looked like Messier’s sharp words had fallen on dull blades as the Rangers were completely overwhelmed by the Devils from the outset, and, in fact, still trailed their Hudson River rivals at the start of the 3rd period, albeit by only a single, momentum-swinging goal scored late in the 2nd period by Alexei Kovalev….oh, btw, assisted by #11. So it was obvious that the Rangers sorely needed “divine intervention” from their “Messiah” to lead them to the “Promised Land” by literally taking matters into his own hands on the ice versus just off it. And, as we all fondly remember, that’s EXACTLY what he did.... Messier tied the game at two just under 3 minutes into the 3rd period on a gorgeous sweeping backhander past Devils’ *rookie* goaltender, Martin Brodeur, assisted by Kovalev and Brian Leetch. And then, with just under 8 minutes potentially left to play in the Ranger’s magical season, Mark gave his now-rejuvenated team a 3-2 lead by banging home the rebound of a left-wing, Kovalev blast, again assisted by Leetch. All that was needed was the finishing touch. And The Captain “capped” off the night in epic fashion by not only winning a key defensive draw with just under 2 minutes left to play and the Devils’ sporting a 6-on-4 advantage having pulled Brodeur while on the power play, but by intercepting a desperation pass in front of Mike Richter and nailing a bulls-eye smack dab in the middle of the Devils’ gaping open net 150 feet away to seal the Rangers’ Game 6 victory and register one of the most *naturally* memorable hat tricks in hockey history. “The Messiah had delivered!!”….”Bless This Mess!” ;) youtu.be/y1vnlW-NLmY
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 07:00:34 +0000
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