Remembering 1994: Q. and A. With Claude Lemieux Perhaps no player in N.H.L. history was able to ramp up his intensity and effectiveness for the playoffs like Claude Lemieux, who won four Stanley Cups. In 1994 Lemieux tied Game 1 for the Devils with 43 seconds left, setting the stage for Stephane Richer's double-overtime game-winner; received double unsportsmanlike-conduct and double 10-minute-misconduct penalties for going after Adam Graves in Game 2; and helped set up Valeri Zelepukin's tying goal with 7.7 seconds left in the unforgettable Game 7. Do you see any parallels between the 1994 Eastern Conference finals and the current Devils-Rangers series? I think both teams right now are being coached probably like we were coached at the time. In "94 it was a very intense series, and Mike Keenan, the Rangers" coach, was a very intense guy. In this series we've seen key players not touch the ice for a while - Gaborik, Del Zotto - and it was the same thing with Keenan. Some of the players who were playing half the game all of a sudden were sat down, like Brian Leetch. Jacques Lemaire was the opposite. He never got too high, never got too low. He was a thinker, and he never let his emotion take over making the right decision. Keenan was much more of an emotional guy, probably like Tortorella is. Peter DeBoer and the Devils" coaching staff coach a lot like the way we were coached when we winning. You were the consummate playoff performer. You won Cups with Montreal, Colorado and twice with New Jersey, scored 80 playoff goals and were involved in some controversial hits over the years. What was it like in "94 to play against another intense player, Mark Messier? A big part of my job was to play against the other team's top players. So playing against Mess was, first for me, always an honor. Because as much as I didn't give him any respect on the ice, I just had the utmost respect for him - I absolutely admired the way he played. I watched him growing up in those great years in Edmonton, and then to be on the same ice, and to have the responsibility to shut him down, was always a great challenge for me. He competed so hard. He was tough, and he was good, and he was dirty. Whenever you'd come in for a big hit, he'd lift that elbow and pop you right in the places you didn't want to be hit. I think I had more watery eyes with Mess than with anybody else. I'd throw my hands up in the air and yell at the ref, "How could you miss it?" But I think half the time they didn't miss it. They just said, "O.K., that's Mark Messier you're chasing around - that's the price you're going to pay." The Devils won Game 5 in "94 and took a 3-2 series lead. Bernie Nicholls came back from a one-game suspension for cross-checking Alexei Kovalev and scored twice as you guys routed the Rangers, 4-1. I remember we played really well - we had a strong Game 5. We were on a high and really felt that we were going to finish them at home in Game 6. I think we were up, 2-0, in Game 6, and we had a two-on-one and a three-on-one and couldn't bury them and finish it off. And the next thing you know the tide turned and they scored kind of a weak goal. And that was it. Half the building, if not more, was taken over by Ranger fans, and we're sitting there and it's now 2-2, and we're hearing, "Let's go Rangers." It had a tremendous impact on our mental state. We were a little bit rattled, and lost that game. So you lost Game 6 at the Meadowlands, and then you lost Game 7 at the Garden in the second overtime period, after tying that game with 7.7 seconds left. This one was probably the toughest loss for me of all the playoff runs that I had. In the conference final to lose to them, and to know, man, one more goal or one more turnover, we'd have the Cup. I didn't know how the puck went in on Matteau's goal in overtime. We didn't see the replay. It was one of those wraparounds off the leg and in. I remember Bernie Nicholls scored a million goals in his career and had a wide-open net in overtime. So many chances to win it. It was a hard-fought battle - one of the best seven-game series I ever played in. It was really hard to see New York win, because we thought we would be a great match against Vancouver, who played a pretty open game, and we knew we could shut "em down. We felt really strong about our chances to win. So we became a more mature team, a better team, and better prepared in "95. And the Devils won the Cup in "95. Our team stayed very focused during the lockout - we only had half a season in "94-95 - and we stayed very close. We trained very hard on our own. Knowing that we were so close, from goaltending to defense to up front, we just felt really confident, and we knew we were very well coached. All those things Jacques told us to do in "94 and maybe we didn't execute them, we did in "95, and we won. Game 5 in the current Devils-Rangers series is taking place on May 23, exactly 18 years after the Game 5 in 1994. Same situation going in - series tied, 2-2. Devils won Game 5 in "94. What do you see happening in this Game 5? Well, in the playoffs you need to win four games. You always have to stay focused in the moment - you can go on the road and win Game 5 and come home and you don't perform. The pressure is always on the team to close. Somebody's got to be up, 3-2. But all it takes is for the team that's down 3-2 to win Game 6 and now all of a sudden you're back on home ice and looking pretty good for Game 7.