NEW YORK — We are talking about history now.
Even big billing on the prominent marquee outside of Madison Square Garden doesn’t do proper justice to Thursday’s meeting between the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers. It has been more than two decades since either of these Original Six organizations has been this close to competing for the Stanley Cup.
Close, but still too far.
The Canadiens are a team that is constantly telling and retelling its story, but here we have a case of the present finally closing in on the past.
Twenty-one years.
It has been 21 years since any group of players wearing the “CH” crest has played in a game as big as Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final promises to be.
“We’re still chasing that dream,” captain Brian Gionta said after arriving to the team’s swanky Times Square hotel on Wednesday night. “When you get to this point, you’ve got to take advantage of it and really cherish it.”
“When you’re still alive this far, this deep into the season, it’s a privilege,” said teammate Daniel Briere, another veteran. “You want to make sure you leave it all on the ice. You don’t take any chances.”
Montreal has performed extremely well when facing elimination in these playoffs, but it has never had as much to lose as it does right now. It’s “win or die,” in the words of Lars Eller, and death isn’t really an option after so much belief has been created in Ginette Reno’s hometown this spring.
The Habs need two more wins over the Rangers to live on; somehow, any how.
Hopes are similarly high in a bustling metropolis that has hockey on the brain. The Rangers currently find themselves in an unfamiliar spot — on the cover of Sports Illustrated, not to mention the verge of a championship series for the first time since Messier’s guarantee and “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!”
“The opportunity in front of us should create all the desperation that we need,” said Brad Richards, the de facto captain on a team where no one wears the “C.”
The last thing New York wants is to let this series get to seven games. The Bell Centre hasn’t been kind to the Rangers in recent years — although they did manage two wins there at the start of this series — and Tuesday’s 7-4 loss seemed to stir up some old ghosts. This is also a team that already went the distance against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and must be somewhat fatigued.
When you take all of that into account, this Game 6 really might as well be considered a Game 7.
“That’s how we looked at the game yesterday and it didn’t work out the way we wanted,” said coach Alain VIgneault. “We didn’t show up yesterday saying we have three chances to move on to the next step. We wanted to end it, it didn’t work. But we’re in a position where we can try again tomorrow.”
Heroes are made when there is this much on the line. Moments, too. It was an unlikely hat trick from Rene Bourque — he of nine regular-season goals and now eight when it really matters — that helped propel Montreal to a victory in Game 5.
Who is going to be next?
This is a tremendous opportunity for Henrik Lundqvist, one of the best goalies of his generation, to finally play for a championship. He was pulled after allowing four goals on 18 shots in Tuesday’s game and rarely ever strings together poor performances for the Rangers.
Or perhaps it will be another chapter in the unlikely story of Dustin Tokarski, who continues to fill in for the injured Carey Price in the Montreal net.
Then you have players like Marty St. Louis, Derek Stepan, P.K. Subban and Alex Galchenyuk who have already made their mark on this series and might have more in store.
The way things have gone over the opening five games it’s probably going to be someone completely under the radar.
The only player we can rule out definitively is Rangers defenceman John Moore, who was suspended two games on Wednesday for a head shot on Dale Weise.
This is a series that has unfolded without rhyme or reason.
“It’s been completely unpredictable,” said Eller, the Canadiens centre. “Game 1 was a game you want to forget, where everything that could go wrong went wrong. Then we played a really good Game 2 (and lost). Didn’t play a very good Game 3, won. Game 4, up in the air, could have went either side. And Game 5, we played the best hockey in this series.
“Some game have been not many goals; some have been 10 goals. It’s been a weird series.”
Good luck trying to figure out what’s going to happen next. As an observer or spectator, it’s best just to sit back in big moments like this one and let history sort itself out. The only guarantee of note for Game 6 came courtesy of Montreal centre David Desharnais, who sagely pointed out that “one team’s going to win.”
And, should it be his team, the reward would be substantial: One more Saturday night date at home, with the chance to advance to the Stanley Cup final. That would also be the most significant hockey game played in they city since the Canadiens moved into the Bell Centre from the Montreal Forum.
Yes, history is at hand.