Stanley Cup Playoffs - Rangers and Devils Prepare for Game 6 The Rangers were not making Messier-like guarantees on the eve of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, with elimination staring them in the face at Prudential Center. But Coach John Tortorella did make declarations on behalf of two of his most important players. "I just know that Hank will play his best game tomorrow night," Tortorella said of Henrik Lundqvist. And of center Brad Richards, Tortorella said: "I expect him to play his best game too. I do. I understand his makeup, and I think he'll find a way. I think Brad Richards will find his way tomorrow as far as winning the game. Tortorella is not putting needless pressure on Lundqvist and Richards. A sense of urgency is already upon them. Each probably had his worst game of the Stanley Cup playoffs in Wednesday's 5-3 loss to the Devils. Lundqvist stopped only 12 of 16 shots. Richards was a minus-2. He flicked a clearing pass right at Lundqvist, forcing him to make a difficult save, and was flattened by Zach Parise 32 seconds into the game, setting the tone for the Devils" lightning surge that gave them a 3-0 lead. But you will not hear a Rangers player uttering a guarantee. "No, no, nothing of that nature," said Ryan Callahan, who, as team captain, holds the same position Mark Messier held in 1994. "I don't think so," Richards said, laughing, when asked if any Ranger would make a victory guarantee. The Rangers" come-from-behind victory 18 years ago bears no meaning for today's Rangers, Tortorella said. When a reporter asked Tortorella about 1994, he first professed ignorance of the moment. Finally he said 1994 was a major topic among reporters and fans, but not for the team. "Not for a second," Tortorella said. Not to disrespect what happened, but that has nothing to do with how we're preparing. The same was true for Richards."We haven't really thought about it, no," Richards said. No disrespect to history, but we worry about ourselves. We want to create our own story. Richards said he vaguely recalled May 25, 1994, Game 6 of the Rangers-Devils series. I was 14; it wasn't my team, so I don't remember. There were variations on the same theme sounded earlier Thursday by Devils Coach Peter DeBoer. "In "94 I still had hair," he said. Devils goalie Martin Brodeur said Messier's guarantee had no effect on the Devils" performance in Game 6, a 4-2 loss, because they were not aware that he had made it. "We didn't even know before the game was ended that he made a guarantee," Brodeur said. If he really said it, it's a pretty gutsy thing to do. They made these trades and they had all these big guys at the end, and they pulled it off in a dramatic way. But this time around, we feel we can play with them. It makes me feel a lot more comfortable going into these games coming up. Richards, Tortorella and another Ranger, Ruslan Fedotenko, have their own history of compelling comebacks, with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals in 2004, Fedotenko scored a goal and Richards assisted on two in the Lightning's 2-1 victory over Philadelphia. In the Stanley Cup finals, Tampa Bay was down three games to two to Calgary when Richards scored two regulation goals in a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 6. Fedotenko scored both goals in the 2-1 victory that clinched the Cup in Game 7. "You build on everything you've done over your career, different games you played in," Richards said. He said the same thing about the experience the Rangers gained in the first round against the Senators, when, down three games to two, they won Game 6 in Ottawa. Richards provided a goal and an assist in that 3-2 victory. He has 15 points in 12 elimination games in his career. "It's tough when you go into a game like this," said Lundqvist, who has stopped 73 of 77 shots (.948 save percentage) in winning all three elimination games this postseason. You want to win the game so bad, sometimes you feel more pressure than you need. The challenge, every time you play an important game, is to find a good balance mentally. "Someone is going to come through and be a hero for some team," said the Rangers" Mike Rupp, who was himself a hero when he scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal as a Devil in 2003. It's a chance now for all of us to be that guy.