May 27, 1994: The Stéphane Matteau Game

May 27, 1994: What might have been the greatest game in NHL history is played. Great game. Horrible result. For me, anyway.

The New Jersey Devils began play in 1982, at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, 7 miles west of Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers. The Rangers and their fans still considered the New York Islanders, 25 miles to the east at the Nassau Coliseum, to be their arch-rivals. But Devils fans didn't care about that. In 1992, their team faced the Rangers in the Playoffs for the 1st time, but the Rangers won in 7 games.

Now, they would play each other again, for a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. For the Devils, their 1st ever; for the Rangers, their 1st in 15 years. For the Devils, a chance at their 1st Cup in 12 seasons of trying; for the Rangers, their 1st in 54 years, an end to "The Curse of 1940."

Somebody noticed that the seating capacity for hockey games at the Brendan Byrne Arena, the Devils' home in the Meadowlands Complex, was 19,040. A coincidence. Not a coincidence were the chants Devils fans had picked up from Islanders fans: "Rangers suck!" and "Nine-teen-for-ty!"

The 1st 2 games were on May 15 and 17, at The Garden. In Game 1, the Rangers blew leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2. Claude Lemieux scored with 43 seconds left in overtime, and Stéphane Richer scored at 15:23 of the 2nd overtime. New Jersey Devils 4, New York Rangers 3. It is one of the most shocking defeats in the Broadway Blues’ history. In Game 2, the Rangers beat the Devils, 4-0, to salvage a split.

Game 3 was played at the Meadowlands on May 19. It went to double overtime, and the Rangers won, 3-2, taking home-ice advantage back. The winning goal was scored by Stéphane Matteau. It was the biggest goal he has ever scored. For now.

Game 4 was played at the Meadowlands on May 21. Richer scored again. He scored 2 goals against them in the 1st live hockey game I ever saw. He hated the Rangers so much, he even scored against them on an episode of Seinfeld. This time, he scored the opener, launching the Devils to a 3-1 win. The series was tied.

Game 5 was played at The Garden on May 23. The Devils humiliated the Rangers in their own house, 4-1, and take a 3-2 lead in the series. The Rangers' "inevitable" Stanley Cup win had become very, very evitable.

On the morning of May 25, the day of Game 6, it looked like it would be the Devils moving on, and the Rangers not. All the Devils had to do is win that night, and they were in the Stanley Cup Finals. And the 1993-94 New York Rangers would go down as the most spectacularly failed team in the history of New York Tri-State Area sports.

Ranger Captain Mark Messier, the man acquired to end the Rangers' curse, was on the verge of becoming the biggest failure in the history of New York sports. But the day before, he gave the media a prediction of victory in Game 6, and it appeared on the back pages of the tabloids.

This was even bigger than Joe Namath's prediction of a Super Bowl win for the New York Jets 25 years earlier: He wasn't predicting a massive upset, he was predicting that a heavily favored team would get its act together. If the Rangers had lost this game – or won it, and then lost Game 7, or even if they'd won both and then lost the Finals, Messier would have gone from savior-in-waiting to a massive letdown, and Ranger fans would have turned on him.

At first, it looked like that would happen at the Meadowlands. The Devils took a 2-0 lead in the 1st period. But Alexei Kovalev scored for the Rangers, and then Messier put the team on his back, and scored the next 3. The Rangers had won, 4-2, and there would be a Game 7 at The Garden on May 27.

At 9:31 of the 2nd period, Brian Leetch scored. It remained 1-0 Rangers until the very end of regulation. With 7.7 seconds to go, Valeri Zelepukin scored for the Devils. The game went to overtime. It went to double overtime. Mike Richter had saved 31 of 32 shots. Martin Brodeur, in only his 2nd NHL season, a few days past his 22nd birthday, had saved 46 of 47.

At the 4:24 mark of the 2nd overtime, Stéphane Matteau skated around the net, and put the puck past Brodeur's left hand. Rangers 2, Devils 1. Pandemonium in The Garden. Howie Rose had the call on radio station WFAN:

Fetisov for the Devils plays it cross-ice, into the far corner. Matteau swoops in to intercept. Matteau behind the net, swings it in front, he scores! Matteau! Matteau! Matteau! Stéphane Matteau! And the Rangers have won more hill to climb, baby! But it's Mount Vancouver! The Rangers are headed to the Finals!

It became hockey's version of Russ Hodges' "The Giants win the Pennant!" after the Bobby Thomson home run gave the baseball version of the New York Giants the 1951 Pennant over their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 43 years earlier.

Indeed, the similarities with the '51 Dodger-Giant Playoff were many. The established team had struggled to beat the upstarts, but had finally done it. It wasn't a superstar who had done the deed: Neither Thomson nor Matteau would ever be seriously considered for his sport's Hall of Fame. And the distance? Actually, it was 7 miles for Rangers vs. Devils, half that for Giants vs. Dodgers, even though, this time, there was a State Line involved.

It might have been the greatest game in hockey history. But, for me, it was a horrible result. After Matteau scored, I called my grandmother, who had been a Brooklyn Dodger fan, and told her I finally understood how she felt on October 3, 1951.

Oddly, although she had been alive for all 3 of the Rangers' Cup wins at that point, she never became a hockey fan until she was old, and living near the Jersey Shore, and she became a Devils fan, and got to enjoy 3 Stanley Cups. Because, instead of folding after taking such an emotional blow, the Devils sucked it up, and won the Cup the next season, with 2 more over the next decade.

The Rangers? Sam Rosen had the call of their Cup win, 18 days later, saying, "This one will last a lifetime!" As of May 27, 2022, it has been 82 years, 1 Cup. That one has lasted a lifetime.

And to think, if the Devils had scored in that overtime, the Rangers would still be under the Curse of 1940, and Mark Messier would have gone down as the biggest failure -- or, at least, the biggest letdown -- in the history of New York sports.

*

May 27, 1994 was a Friday. Football was out of season. There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs, Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals: The Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets, 95-86 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Jimmy Key was the winning pitcher. Daryl Boston hit a home run. Yes, a man named Boston hit a home run for the Yankees. Don Mattingly went 0-for-4.

* The New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-2 at Shea Stadium. Pete Smith went the distance for the win. Luis Rivera and Todd Hundley hit home runs.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The California Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-2 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-2 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Rickey Henderson went 2-for-4.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-0 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. Wilson Álvarez pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Mike Mussina. Both pitchers went the distance. That was still a thing in 1994. Frank Thomas hit a home run. Cal Ripken went 0-for-4.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Ken Griffey Jr. went 1-for-4.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The San Diego Padres beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-6 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Bucs scored 4 runs in the top of the 9th to send the game to extra innings, and Jay Bell hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning. But in the bottom of the 10th, Tim Wallach was hit with a pitch, Eric Karros singled, Mitch Webster singled home the tying run, and Darren Dreifort -- a rookie pitcher in only his 2nd major league plate appearance -- pinch-hit a single to bring home the winning run.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Florida Marlins, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 1-for-4.