Curses! Canucks Foil Rangers Again, 4-1 : Hockey: Vancouver dominates in scoring second consecutive victory, setting up Game 7 Tuesday in New York.

Pushed to the brink of the biggest collapse in hockey history, the New York Rangers are staring into an abyss of 54 years of Stanley Cup failures.

Given two chances to clinch their first triumph since 1940, the Rangers have failed twice and failed miserably. They were thoroughly outplayed in a 4-1 loss to the Canucks on Saturday at the Pacific Coliseum, leaving them one stumble away from becoming the second NHL team to squander a 3-1 lead in the finals.

“We’re angry and disappointed,” Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch said.

It has come to this, to one game on Tuesday at New York’s Madison Square Garden, because the Rangers could not counter the Canucks’ robust hitting and the pressure they exerted in the Rangers’ defensive zone. It has come to this because the Canucks got the sharpest goaltending from Kirk McLean since the series opener, when he made 52 saves. McLean stopped 29 shots Saturday, 22 in the last two periods.

It has come to this because the Rangers, despite hundreds of games of collective playoff experience, lacked the poise and spirit the Canucks displayed before a roaring sellout crowd of 16,150.

“We wanted to take it to them, and we did,” Vancouver winger Sergio Momesso said. “We had to win Game 5, and we did. We came up with a big effort in their building because we had the motivation of coming home.

“Now, we’ve taken this where we wanted. Now that we’re there, we’ve got to go and get it.”

This will be only the seventh Game 7 in the finals since the best-of-seven format began in 1939. It is also the first since 1987, when current Ranger Coach Mike Keenan coached Philadelphia against Edmonton. He now coaches six players who were members of the Oilers that spring and defeated his Flyers, 3-1, in Game 7.

Among those former Oilers is Mark Messier, who claimed he couldn’t remember that far back. He’s looking ahead to Tuesday. “It’s been a long year,” he said. “We fought hard for 84 games to have home-ice advantage and we have to make home ice pay dividends.”

The only other team to take a 3-1 lead in the finals and lose was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who were overtaken by the Detroit Red Wings. The Canucks have done it twice in the first round, this spring against Calgary and last spring against Winnipeg.

“People said we were in awe of (the Rangers) but we’re a very confident hockey club,” said defenseman Jeff Brown, who scored twice Saturday. “Even though we got down, 3-1, we always felt we could come back. We’ve just given ourselves another opportunity to do that. We’re grateful for that.”

They’ve also earned that chance, which even Keenan had to acknowledge. When he wasn’t moaning that the officials have given the Canucks more power plays than the Rangers throughout the series, he conceded the Canucks have played more aggressively in the last two games than his team.

“You have to give them credit for their successes at this point. They had to win a huge game in New York, and they did, and they responded very well tonight,” he said. “You work all season long for an advantage and hopefully, the advantage will come to us in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals in New York City.”

The Canucks controlled the play in the first period Saturday but emerged with only a 1-0 lead. Brown gave them that on a power play at 9:42, when his shot from the left circle deflected off Ranger forward Esa Tikkanen and upward, surprising goalie Mike Richter.

Geoff Courtnall made it 2-0, also on a deflection, off the stick of Ranger defenseman Doug Lidster at 12:29 of the second period. The Rangers made it 2-1 on a power-play goal 2:13 later, when Alexei Kovalev’s shot from the right circle glanced off Murray Craven’s leg and between McLean’s pads. That made them confident they could mount a third-period rally and carry the Cup home.

“We felt we had done some things well and could play better,” Richter said. “We still had a good chance of winning. It’s a shame that third goal went in.”

The goal, by Brown, resulted when he intercepted a Ranger clearing pass and blasted a 40-foot shot from the right side at 8:35. “I really didn’t get a good look at it,” Richter said. “They were tossing it around pretty good in our end.”

Referee Bill McCreary didn’t see Courtnall’s backhander zip under the crossbar and out of the net with 1:32 to go, and so allowed play to continue until a stoppage occurred and it could be reviewed. That stoppage arose when Messier tucked the puck inside the right post with 58 seconds to play. However, when replays showed Courtnall’s shot clearly had gone in, the clock was moved back to the time he scored and Messier’s goal was disallowed.

The Rangers didn’t argue. They were saving their energy for Tuesday.

“If you sit here and think of the negatives, your mental state isn’t going to help when you’re preparing for the next game,” Leetch said. “You have to put (mistakes) behind you and think of all the positives you did to get in this situation.”

Said Canuck defenseman Gerald Diduck: “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Getting to the Stanley Cup final is one thing, but playing one game for the whole thing is going to be real neat.”

Back From the Brink

Teams that have come back from 3-0 and 3-1 deficits to win series in the Stanley Cup playoffs:

1942--Stanley Cup Final * Toronto d. Detroit after trailing 3-0.

1975--Quarterfinal * N.Y. Islanders d. Pittsburgh after trailing 3-0.

1987--Division Semifinal * N.Y. Islanders d. Washington after trailing 3-1.

1987--Division Final * Detroit d. Toronto after trailing 3-1.

1988--Division Semifinal * Washington d. Philadelphia after trailing 3-1.

1989--Division Semifinal * Kings d. Edmonton after trailing 3-1.

1990--Division Semifinal * Edmonton d. Winnipeg after trailing 3-1.

1991--Division Semifinal * St. Louis d. Detroit after trailing 3-1.

1992--Division Semifinal * Detroit d. Minnesota after trailing 3-1.

1992--Division Semifinal * Vancouver d. Winnipeg after trailing 3-1.

1992--Division Semifinal * Pittsburgh d. Washington after trailing 3-1.

1994--Division Quarterfinal * Vancouver d. Calgary after trailing 3-1.