Not everyone has the gall to guarantee a win like former Rangers captain Mark Messier did before Game 6 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Final against the Devils.
But it is in these moments — like the one the 2023 Rangers are facing now with their season on life support ahead of Game 6 of their first-round series against the Devils on Saturday night at the Garden — that the captain is expected to deliver in some way.
Jacob Trouba, who had the ‘C’ stitched on his No. 8 jersey before this season began, said he is confident the Rangers don’t need any sort of motivational speech or proclamation of belief from him.
So don’t expect any Messier guarantee or Herb Brooks-like pregame sermon from the Rangers captain.
“I think everybody knows the message,” Trouba told The Post after the Rangers practice Friday afternoon in Tarrytown. “The message has been talked about all year. I don’t think now is the time to panic and overkill and all that. We know the situation we’re in. Nobody needs to say it or talk about it really. I think everybody understands what we need to do and how we have to play.
“Go out and win a game. I think that’s the mindset of everyone. Win one game and go from there.”
Maybe the Rangers don’t need Trouba to address the locker room in that way.
What they do need, however, is for Trouba to be the lead-by-example captain that he has been.
Players have pointed to Trouba’s memorable helmet toss in the Dec. 3 game against Chicago as the turning point of the season.
The way he screamed at the bench, telling his teammates to wake up, led to a critical winning streak that changed the entire narrative surrounding the Rangers.
“I don’t know, it was kind of just a natural thing, I don’t really throw things,” Trouba said. “Just thought we’re capable of more. I think we know that over the last couple of games that we’re capable of accomplishing something here and playing better. Got to go out there and put it on the ice.”
It wasn’t just the intensity of that moment. The earth-shattering hits he landed mid-game certainly sent a message, as well.
The Rangers could use some of that right about now.
Trouba said he’s navigated his role as captain no different than how he did as a team leader without the title.
There might be some more responsibility, he said, but he hasn’t changed who he is as a person in the locker room.
Partially agreeing with the notion that he felt responsible to act at that low point of the season in December, Trouba did just that. Who knows where the Rangers would be now if he didn’t respond in the way that he did?
That is not a question Trouba wants to be asking himself if the Rangers are cleaning out their lockers on Sunday.
“I think you obviously want to turn it around, you can’t just sit around and do nothing,” Trouba said. “Is [throwing my helmet] what I had planned? No. I think there’s got to be some show of change.
“Behind the scenes, I think I’m the same person, act the same way that I did in the past. Continue to grow and become a better leader and evolve.”