CALL OF DUTY

Matteau, Rose linked by iconic moment

THEY are inextricably linked. Forever. Linked by one monstrous doubleovertime goal and three words: “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!’’

They also represent the most direct link there is to the last true glory days for the Rangers — the kind of end-all glory days this year’s team is chasing as it plays the Panthers in Game 2 of the East final on Friday night at the Garden, trailing 1-0 in the series.

Stephane Matteau and Howie Rose might as well be related, because they’re brothers forever.

And to think: They didn’t even know each other before “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!’’

Rose’s iconic radio call of the Matteau double-overtime goal that defeated the Devils in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup semifinals to send the Rangers to the Cup Final feels like it’s running on a continuous loop — particularly at this time of year with the Rangers chasing the elusive chalice.

We hear it everywhere, and it never, ever gets old.

Unless you happen to be a Devils fan.

“My name will always be linked to his name, and vice versa,’’ Matteau said.

“We experienced a moment where we were brought together by fate, like Ralph Branca and Bobby Thomson had their connection for far different reasons,’’ Rose said. “This was a case where somebody gave me a moment that basically shaped my career and is obviously the highlight of his career as well.’’

Rose, Matteau, fellow Rangers teammates Mike Richter and Adam Graves, former Islander great Pierre Turgeon and former Devil Jim Dowd, who was on the ice for the Matteau goal, convened at an Upper East Side venue for a panel discussion to raise money for the Stephane Matteau Foundation on Thursday night, five days before the 30th anniversary of the famous goal.

Matteau created this event to raise money not only for his foundation but also for Mount Sinai Hospital’s Department of Urology, which helped save Rose from bladder cancer. That’s how intimately intertwined the two are to this day.

Rose said he listens to the “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!’’ call when it’s replayed on the radio, and he allows himself “to drift back into the moment.”

“I feel the euphoria and I feel the chills,” he said, “not so much that I made the call, but because of the moment.’’

For Matteau, who played on six different NHL teams in 13 seasons and was a midseason acquisition by the Rangers in ’94, it was a moment that changed his life.

“It didn’t change my life right away, because I kept playing a few more years after that,’’ Matteau said. “But it’s when I became part of the Rangers alumni that I became aware of the impact that the ’94 players had on the fan base over the years. That goal led me to open doors I don’t think I would have been able to get in had it not been for that moment.

“I’m fortunate that I did score. A lot of good things happened in my life because of it. I cherish it, and I don’t take it for granted.’’

Matteau and Rose reminisced about the fact that — in the heat of the moment as the goal was being scored — neither one truly knew whether it came off the stick of Matteau or Esa Tikkanen, who was crashing the front of the net as Matteau took his wraparound shot on Devils goalie Martin Brodeur.

“I don’t know if it was a lucky call or a lucky goal, because Tikkanen almost touched it,’’ Matteau said. “Howie had the vision and thankfully he made the right call. If you look at the replay, the puck was inches away from Tikkanen’s stick.’’

Rose recalled the moment with some element of angst.

“It wasn’t until after I finished yelling [Matteau’s] name 1,000 times and watching the replay that it even occurred to me that Tikkanen might have gotten the goal,’’ Rose said. “When [broadcast partner] Sal Messina

was breaking the play down, he said, ‘That could have been Tikkanen,’ and now I’m like, ‘Oh s--t.’ ” Thankfully, Rose’s eyes had it right. “The enormity of it still kind of knocks me out,’’ Rose said. “Because, on a personal level, I grew up a Rangers fan and had season tickets since 1971. I never got over losing Game 7 in Chicago in the ’71 semis. So, this [1994] game was that game.

“When [New Jersey’s Valeri Zelepukin] scored that goal [to tie the game with 7.7 seconds remaining in regulation], that was cruel and unusual punishment. And, having felt like I lived every minute of every day of the 54 years [without a Rangers Cup], it was very, very difficult for myself to believe that we’re gonna win that game. Because stuff happened to the Rangers over the years, and [losing that game] would have fit that script perfectly.’’ But fate interceded. “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!’’ was that fate.