Bernie Nicholls, suspended from Game 4 for attempted decapitation of Alexei Kovalev, kills the Rangers. He scores shorthanded at 6:49 of the first to open the scoring, then scores a power-play goal at 10:37 of the third to make it 3-0. Mike Peluso and Tom Chorske also score for Joisey. Esa Tikkanen scores a meaningless goal with 3:27 to go, but it ends 4-1.
Police blotter: Jeff Beukeboom levels Stephane Richer from behind into the boards; the play goes unpenalized, but with New Jersey having screamed bloody murder over the Nicholls suspension, it's obvious what's going to happen tomorrow -- Beukeboom gets suspended for Game 6 at the Meadowlands.
Of course, now that means Beukeboom may have played his last game of the season. This is not the kind of Ranger team you give up on (1992? 1991? 1990?), but it's not going to be easy.
Scary stat -- through 1992, the Rangers had trailed 3-2 in 15 best-of-7 series in franchise history. They had never come back to win a series. Indeed, only three times had they forced a Game 7 in those 15 series, and in each of those three instances (1974, Philadelphia; 1971, Chicago; 1939, Boston), Game 6 was on Madison Square Garden ice.
NJD 1 0 3--4
NYR 0 0 1--1
(New Jersey leads series, 3-2)
Goals: NJ--Nicholls 2, Peluso, Chorske; NY--Tikkanen. Assists: NJ--Lemieux
2, Brodeur, MacLean, Albelin, Carpenter; NY--Zubov. Goalies: NJ--Brodeur
(26 shots-25 saves); NY--Richter (25-21). Power plays: NJ--1 of 6; NY--0 of
3.
Mike (No snide tagline tonight. Not feeling too much like laughing...) Fornabaio -- mef17@oocities.com
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