STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS : Messier’s Three Goals Keep Rangers Alive

Mark Messier guaranteed a victory in Game 6 and delivered in what might go down as one of the most clutch performances in NHL history.

Messier scored three third-period goals, including the game-winner with 7:48 to play Wednesday night, and the Rangers stayed alive by rallying from a two-goal deficit to beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-2, forcing a seventh and deciding game in the Eastern Conference finals.

“We know we are going to go in there and win Game 6 and bring it back to the Garden,” Messier had said Tuesday.

The series returns to Madison Square Garden on Friday, where the Devils have already won two of the three games. The winner will open the Stanley Cup final series next Tuesday against Western Conference champion Vancouver.

“He leads and they follow,” Devil center Bernie Nicholls said. “Your best players can’t say that we have to win tonight’s game; he’s got to guarantee it. He went out and proved he was going to do it and they followed. That’s why in my opinion he is the best money player in the game.

“He’s the best clutch player. I know Gretz (Wayne Gretzky) and Mario (Lemieux) get a lot of credit, but when the chips are down and there is a big game to be won, there is nobody better.”

Messier, veteran of five Stanley Cup champions with Edmonton, refused to characterize the game as one of his best and pointed to goalie Mike Richter as the one who kept New York around after it fell behind, 2-0.

“No one man wins the hockey game, or any championship, or anything in a team sport,” Messier said.

In making the prediction, Messier said all he was trying to do after Game 5 was restore the team’s confidence.

“I didn’t think about the repercussions until later in the night,” he said. “It wasn’t about being cocky or arrogant. It was one of those thing you have to get the team to believe in itself.”

For 38 minutes, it appeared that Game 7 would not be necessary as the Devils opened a 2-0 lead on goals by Scott Niedermayer and Claude Lemieux and dominated play with Martin Brodeur stopping several good chances by New York.

The time seemed ripe for another chapter of Stanley Cup frustration for the Rangers, but Messier and Alexei Kovalev refused to let New York die.

Coach Mike Keenan seemed to be at a loss for words to describe what Messier had done in keeping alive the Rangers quest for a first Stanley Cup since 1940.

“He took it in his own hands and showed the resolve he talked about before the game,” Keenan said. “I don’t have to say much. His actions spoke as many words as I could think of. That has to rank up there with the best I’ve seen.”

Kovalev got the Rangers going late in the second period with a goal and Messier tied it early in the third.

After Brodeur stopped several good scoring chances, Messier came through with the teams skating four on four.

Brian Leetch sent Kovalev into the Devils’ zone with a cross-ice pass, and the Russian fired a shot that bounced off Brodeur and down to the ice, where Messier banged it into the net with Nicholls draped all over him.

Messier added an empty-net goal with 1:45 to play with New Jersey on a power play.

The Rangers finished with 36 shots on goal, including a 14-4 advantage in the third period, and Richter made 28 saves.