Friday, the Rangers took a stand for themselves as a team and as an organization. Now do it again. The 5-1 victory extended the series by at least one game, that's great, now do it again. To win Friday and fall today to me would be a nice moral victory, a quick note in history, a momentary diversion from what was expected once Pittsburgh went up 3-1. Want to send a real message and create some panic in Pittsburgh, win again tonight. Make Pittsburgh recollect what transpired a few years ago when a seemingly insurmountable series lead went up in smoke.
The keys to Friday's win that I highlighted yesterday apply again to today's game. An emotional lift from an unfortunate source, good goaltending, solid special teams, effort and heart. But there is one more: luck. In every contest a little luck has to be involved. You can have the first five I listed but sometimes you need that something extra, at times, and sometimes more times than not, which is luck. It hitting the inside the post and having the shot go on offense or hotting the outside and deflecting away if on defense. It's a bounce here and there. But as you have seen me write before, as Branch Rickey said, luck in the residue of design. I firmly believe you make your own breaks, and if you get it to a Game 7, those breaks can carry you to a win. But first you have to get there.
The scene is set Sunday at MSG. It's Mothers Day. The crowd will be alive. They will attempt to lift the Rangers but more so lift up Martin St. Louis and his family who are grieving the loss of his mother, France. St. Louis played with a heavy heart Friday that likely will be heavier today given what day it is. That emotional uplift from his teammates and crowd can only take the team so far, they need to get it done on the ice. Play as they did Friday and we will be watching Game 7 in Pittsburgh. Get traffic in front of Marc-Andre Fleury to make it tough on him. When you think you have given your all, go above and beyond, as the Rangers' playoff motto this year states. Find that next level and gear. Dominate the neutral zone. Take the body. Clear the front of the net. Dive to keep a puck in or net. It doesn't matter the line combinations or who is on at the time, each player has to have the same mindset.
I close the blog repeating what I wrote Friday before the game and Saturday night in the recap:
Screw history. New York has never come back from 3-1 down in a series, make new history this year. Be the first to do so. It doesn't matter who plays and who sits, whoever is in the lineup needs to bring it. To quote Boomer Esiason and it's something I have said a lot, win one shift, then another, then another. Then win one period and another.
Heart. It's the willingness to take a hit to move the puck or score a goal. Heart. It's what makes the name on the front of the jersey more than the one of the back. Heart. It's what New Yorkers love to see in their athletes. It's rising over trying circumstances. It's carrying a team or a teammate on your backs when needed. Heart. It can overcome talent when talent doesn't have or use it. Heart. It's what needs to be on display Sunday when We Are All Rangers.
Tonight, win or lose, We Are All Rangers!!!
Happy Mothers Day to all including my wife, mom and mother-in-law etc.