Rangers Powered by Leetch : Game 4: New York beats the Canucks, 4-2, and can win the Stanley Cup on Thursday at home.

Their paths were intertwined, the two young stars who carried their teams to the Stanley Cup finals. For several memorable moments, New York Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch and Vancouver Canuck right wing Pavel Bure reached new heights until Leetch took the Rangers a giant step down the path to their first Cup in 54 years.

Leetch sparked a Ranger rally Tuesday night with his 10th goal of the playoffs and set up three more as the Rangers scored a 4-2 victory at the Pacific Coliseum. He also figured in a pivotal play for the Canucks by pulling down Bure on a breakaway that resulted in a penalty shot. Bure, who had set up Vancouver’s second goal, shot the puck into Mike Richter’s right leg and was not heard from again.

“I can’t do a lot of the things Pavel can, so I just look for opportunities,” Leetch said.

There seemed to be little Leetch couldn’t do Tuesday in giving the Rangers a 3-1 lead in the series. Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs have rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the Cup, and if the Canucks are to duplicate that, they must start to do it at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

“The place is going to be a madhouse,” Ranger Coach Mike Keenan said. “The fan support is bordering on fanatical.’

But it was the Vancouver crowd of 16,150 that seemed fanatical as the Canucks took a 2-0 lead. Trevor Linden’s re-direction of a Jyrki Lumme shot from the slot at 13:25 gave the Canucks their first power-play goal of the series, and Cliff Ronning banged in the rebound of a Bure shot at 16:19.

When Vancouver goalie Kirk McLean made a glove save on Leetch on a breakaway at 18:43, the game seemed to belong to the Canucks. But the Rangers clawed back, first on Leetch’s long goal through a screen at 4:03 of the second period.

Still, the Canucks had a chance to win after Leetch pulled Bure down and referee Terry Gregson pointed to center ice, signaling a penalty shot. “It was a good call,” Leetch said.

Bure tried the same move he used against Calgary’s Mike Vernon in Vancouver’s first-round series. He scored a double-overtime goal against Vernon but wasn’t as successful against Richter.

“He came out from the net and that’s why I couldn’t shoot,” said Bure, who skated in on Richter and tried to slip a forehand shot past the goalie from about five feet away.

Richter got his right toe on the puck, no more than that.

“I have seen (Bure’s use of that same move),” he said. “I wasn’t looking for that particular move, though. He’s too good to think he has only one move.”

Said Keenan: “It was a classic confrontation between one of the most, if not the most, electrifying forwards in the game right now and an outstanding goaltender who hasn’t been given much recognition throughout the playoffs. That was the biggest stop he’s ever made in his career, I’m sure.”

The penalty shot was the seventh ever taken in the finals. None have been successful.

“I’m not so sure it was a factor,” Canuck Coach Pat Quinn said. “We were playing well up until that time. I’m not so sure it was a downer for us.”

The evidence suggests otherwise. The Rangers, who had only five power plays to 11 for the Canucks, tied the score on a power play with 15.2 seconds left in the second period. Sergei Zubov, after taking a pass from Leetch, held onto the puck while several Rangers went to the net to screen McLean or be in position for rebounds. As Canuck defenseman Dave Babych skated through the goalie’s sight, Zubov let loose and the puck slipped in.

Alexei Kovalev broke the tie on another Ranger power play. Leetch dodged Brian Glynn at the blue line and feathered a pass to Kovalev, who had sneaked behind Lumme. All Kovalev had to do was lift it over McLean’s left arm.

With 2:04 to play, Steve Larmer’s dump-in attempt bounced off Babych’s leg and past a startled McLean.