The Rangers successfully made it past the first two rounds of the playoffs, sweeping the New York Islanders, who were seeded eighth in the first round, and then breezed by the Washington Capitals, seeded seventh, in five. However, matters got interesting in the Conference Finals against the third-seeded New Jersey Devils. The Rangers lost the series opener at home in double overtime, but won the next two games before the Devils beat the New York offense and defeated them 3–1 and 4–1. The series headed back to the Meadowlands for the next game, but the day before that sixth game, Rangers captain Mark Messier stepped up and guaranteed a win. Keenan said of the guarantee: