Game 6 doesn’t roll off the tongue in the way Game 7 does. There isn’t the same romance attached to the lore of Game 6 as to the tradition of Game 7.
And yet …
Arguably the most famous of the combined 7,164 regular season and playoff matches the Rangers have played since joining the NHL in 1926 was a Game 6 … the “We’ll Win Tonight” Game 6 against the Devils at the Meadowlands in 1994 … the game in which Mark Messier backed up his guarantee with a hat trick.
That one.
You believe the “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!” Game 7 was more famous? Maybe. The Game 7 that actually ended with the Rangers winning the 1994 Staney Cup? OK. But I don’t think so. It is that singular Game 6 of the epochal Battle of the Hudson that is the most memorable and most celebrated of them all.
The Rangers, of course, faced Game 6 second-round elimination by Carolina at the Garden on Saturday night. But they just did this dance a couple of weeks ago, going into Pittsburgh for a Game 6, down in the first-round series 3-2 after having won Game 5 at home two nights earlier. They have done this before.
This marks the Blueshirts’ 10th Game 6 facing elimination since the start of the hard-cap era in 2006. A review of the first nine, the Rangers having gone 6-3 in those challenges:
2007, second round vs. Buffalo at MSG: After sweeping the Thrashers for their first playoff series victory in 10 years, the Blueshirts split the opening four games against the Sabres before taking a 1-0 lead into the final seconds of Game 5 in Buffalo. But Big Moment Chris Drury scores with 7.7 seconds remaining to tie it before Maxim Afinogenov wins it in on a power-play goal early in overtime, prompting Henrik Lundqvist to smash his stick against the wall above the entrance to the visitors’ room, which leaves a visible crack. Back home for Game 6, the hungover Rangers are beaten 5-4 and are eliminated from the tourney.
2012, first round at Ottawa: Having finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference and only one point shy of winning the Presidents’ Trophy, the Black and Blueshirts confront an immediate upset elimination in a nasty, contentious series in which Brian Boyle is concussed on one side and Daniel Alfredsson on the other. But the Rangers respond. Brandon Prust takes on Chris Neill in a tone-setting fight and Chris Kreider scores the first playoff goal of his career less than two weeks after coming out of Boston College in a taut 3-2 victory that sets the stage for the Rangers’ Game 7 victory at home two nights later.
2012, conference finals at New Jersey: “Henrique! It’s over!” Eighteen years to the day after Messier, a 40-year-old Martin Brodeur twists history his and the Devils’ way, with Adam Henrique’s 3-2 winning goal in overtime to conclude this stunning upset defeat.
2013, first round vs. Washington at MSG: Having been acquired just six weeks earlier at the deadline, Derick Brassard has his first “Big Game Brass” moment by scoring the only goal in a 1-0 Lundqvist shutout victory that the Blueshirts back up one night later with a 5-0 Game 7 victory in Washington to send them to the second round and a five-game loss to the Bruins, after which John Tortorella is dismissed as head coach.
2014, second round vs. Pittsburgh at MSG: The game-opening goal represents Martin St. Louis’ Mother’s Day gift to his recently passed mom, France St. Louis, the Rangers taking this one 3-1 before their 2-1 Game 7 victory on the road to complete the supernatural comeback from 3-1 down in the series.
2015, second round at Washington: Escaping elimination in Game 5 at the Garden on Ryan McDonagh’s OT winner after Kreider ties the contest with 1:41 remaining in regulation, the Blueshirts prevail 4-3 in a spectacular Game 6 in which the team is out-attempted 32-0 (32-0!) over the final 14:41. Derek Stepan then gets the Game 7 OT winner as the Rangers become the only team in history to pull off comebacks from 3-1 down in consecutive years.
2015, conference finals at Tampa Bay: Having been blanked 2-0 at home in Game 5, the Blueshirts avoid elimination by burying the Lightning, 7-3, behind Brassard’s five-point (2-3) night. But three nights later, the Blueshirts are shut out again at home, 2-0, for the only Game 7 loss of Lundqvist’s career.
2017, second round vs. Ottawa at MSG: The last ride ends with a desultory effort in a 4-2 defeat that caps a series the Blueshirts dominate but lose after blowing late leads in OT losses in both Game 2 and Game 5.
2022: first round at Pittsburgh: The Blueshirts rally from a 2-0 deficit for a 4-3 victory on a late third-period goal by Kreider that sets up a Game 7 victory at the Garden on Artemi Panarin’s OT power-play snipe to complete the rally from 3-1 down in the series.