NEW YORK — And now the New York Rangers will wonder not only what might have been but what should have been. They will recall the games against Ottawa in this Eastern Conference semifinal they almost won but didn’t, the leads they scrambled to preserve but didn’t, the series they dominated until they didn’t.
These are the thoughts that linger over a vast summer, long after the visceral anguish wanes, and infiltrate minds yearning to recharge. The Rangers will remember how their season ended Tuesday night with a 4-2 loss, destroyed by a lethargic first two periods that an inspired final 20 minutes could not erase.
“It was right there for us,” goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said.
Lundqvist sat at his stall afterward, his head collapsed in his hands. He arose to answer questions, and when he was finished, he resumed the position. Across the way, Mats Zuccarello still wore his uniform, unwilling to take it off quite yet.
However hard they worked, and however much they wanted it, the Rangers will not hoist the Stanley Cup, and this particular failure will sting deeply.
Not just because Ottawa, overwhelmed and overmatched during the first two games at Madison Square Garden, barged into the Rangers’ arena and snatched a victory to advance to the third round for the first time since 2007. Or because of the favorable draw that dropped the Rangers into a less imposing side of the playoff bracket, thus guaranteeing they would avoid the three best teams — Washington, Pittsburgh and Columbus — until the conference finals, a stage that eludes them yet again.
The Rangers led Ottawa for nearly three full games — half the series — and won only twice. Their first three defeats came by one goal, and they were winning at some point in each. Twice in Ottawa, including Game 5 on Saturday, the Rangers bungled late leads after the Senators pulled goaltender Craig Anderson for an extra attacker, and they went on to lose in overtime. On Tuesday, they allowed two first-period goals and mangled four power plays, including three in the first 12 minutes, 35 seconds.
“I don’t know if I’ve really ever gone through a series like this where we seemed to shoot ourselves in the foot as far as closing games out or not playing well in crucial situations,” said Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh, who slowed his team’s push by committing a late penalty. “We have nobody to blame but ourselves, and that’s the truth of the situation.”
Across the past seven seasons, the Rangers have played 16 playoff series, winning nine, but never the ultimate. They have now lost their past three games when facing elimination, puncturing the aura of invincibility that they — and Lundqvist — had once cultivated. Now they are left to ponder how that, and so much more, disappeared.