Rangers’ Exit Fits Their Story Line: Grit but Few Goals

WASHINGTON — Brian Boyle sat quietly in his stall at Verizon Center, moments after the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs by the Washington Capitals, trying to express the way he felt.

“It’s a lot of things,” Boyle said. “It’s angry, it’s sad — the season’s over. We’re a close group. It’s a lot of games, it’s a grind, but it’s over. It went by too quick.

“It’s the worst feeling you could have,” he said.

The Rangers lost, 3-1, on Saturday, sent home after five games by the more talented yet equally gritty Capitals. Their final performance was the Rangers’ season in microcosm: a middling team working hard until the end, hanging in as long as it could because of its goalie and its shot-blocking, empowered yet hobbled by the fury of its coach, and ultimately undone by its inability to score.

Henrik Lundqvist was valiant in stopping 24 shots. Dan Girardi, Marc Staal and seven other Rangers blocked an additional 20. Girardi paid for it with a dislocated finger and a possible ankle injury, but he played until the end. Boyle, Brandon Prust and Sean Avery generated what few scoring chances the Rangers had amid their mucking and grappling. Marian Gaborik, the 42-goal sniper of 2010 gone cold in 2011, failed to make a difference.

The Rangers even scored a goal of honor, 32 seconds from the end, when Wojtek Wolski ended the shutout.

“I’m at a loss for words, I guess,” Brandon Dubinsky said. “We worked pretty hard all year long. To have it be over this quick is hard.”

So the Rangers went out, now having won the Stanley Cup once in 71 years, in that increasingly distant postseason of 1994. They made the playoffs on their final day of the regular season, a slight improvement over last year, when they missed the playoffs on the final day, but also a slight comedown from two years ago, when they lost to the Capitals in the first round in seven games. They have not advanced beyond the second round since Glen Sather became the general manager in 2000.

“We’re still in the process, so we just keep on going, trying to get better,” said John Tortorella, who took over as the Rangers’ coach during the 2008-9 season. “I don’t think our team has been built yet.”

For Washington, it was the second playoff victory over the Rangers in three years. The Capitals have played six other postseason series since 1998, and lost them all.

Mike Green, Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin scored Washington’s goals, one in each period, and the rookie goalie Michal Neuvirth stopped 26 shots.

The Rangers’ best stretch came in the first 30 seconds, when the Boyle-Prust-Avery line created real danger, and Boyle’s wraparound attempt was stopped by Neuvirth. It was one of five shots by Boyle, who wound up with a team-high 25 in the series but did not score a point. They missed the injured Ryan Callahan, and his 23 goals, throughout this series.

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