PHILADELPHIA — The question for John Tortorella wasn’t so much why he bypassed Marian Gaborik in the failed shootout in yesterday’s 2-1 loss that ended the Rangers’ season, but rather why the coach was prepared to use No. 10 in the four hole if he didn’t entrust him with one of the first three tries.
But then, Tortorella was in no mood to explain himself after the 2-1 defeat to the Flyers that left the Rangers out of the playoffs for the first time in five seasons since the lockout.
Asked if he would explain why he bypassed Gaborik, Tortorella said: “No.”
Gaborik may be the Rangers’ best player and scorer, but he’s a career 2-for-18 in the skills competition after going 1-for-5 this season and making it clear he knows he’s not especially good at it.
Fact is, when the Rangers beat the Devils in a shootout in New Jersey on March 25 in which Erik Christensen scored before Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky were foiled, no one that night asked about Gaborik’s absence.
Still, Gaborik told The Post that Tortorella had told him he would be in the clean-up hole. He never got the chance after Brian Boucher, who had been beaten on three of the four shootout shots he had faced prior to yesterday, stopped two of three Rangers, including Olli Jokinen on the final try of the season.
“Torts told me I would go fourth; that was his decision,” said Gaborik, who refused to characterize his reaction to that. “I guess we ran out of time, though.”
Despite having what appeared to be the ultimate shootout weapon in Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers finished the season 3-4 in the skills competition after the King yielded two goals on three shots yesterday, including the five-hole winner to Claude Giroux.
The King stopped only 15 of 22 (.682 save percentage) this season after entering the season having stopped 128 of 169 (75.7) for a 27-18 mark.
Rangers shooters went a combined 7-for-26, and that includes the 3-for-3 from P.A. Parenteau, the lone Blueshirt to beat Boucher.
Actually, Gaborik, Christensen (1-for-4 after coming to New York with a career 17-for-31), Vinny Prospal (1-for-1) and Ales Kotalik (1-for-4 before being traded after entering the season 20-for-38), were the only Rangers other than Parenteau to score during the season.
Still, the Rangers played yesterday’s overtime attempting to get to the shootout. That made sense considering both the team’s 1-7 record in 4-on-4 OT and the goaltending matchup.
“Nobody wanted to make a glaring mistake in OT,” said Dubinsky. “We have one of the best in the world in goal. We liked our chances if it went to a shootout.”
It did, and with the season on the line, the ultimate team sport was reduced to a penalty-shot gimmick.
“It was definitely strange, just watching it from the bench,” said Chris Drury, a career 3-for-14 who did not shoot this season. “Having it all come down to the 82nd game and then still having it even after overtime and having a shootout decide it all, it was weird.”
The shootout and the season ended without Gaborik, the 42-goal scorer who finished fifth in the Rocket Richard race, getting the chance to shoot.
But he was going to go next.
Why?
The coach wouldn’t say.
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Lundqvist, who matched his career-high 72 starts after going 17 straight (and 25 of 26) to end the season, allowed two goals or fewer 43 times, but won only 30 of those matches (30-7-6).
That stat gives added meaning to Drury’s observation that, “We just couldn’t finish,” concerning the Game 82 defeat that ended the season after the 7-1-1 run that created the opening to finish with a flourish.
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Artem Anisimov had an encouraging final game to conclude an encouraging rookie season, but the center’s failed attempt to spring Brian Boyle in the neutral zone while attempting to kill an early third-period penalty was turned into the counter attack on which the Flyers tied the game, with Matt Carle charging the net to chip the rebound of Daniel Briere‘s one-timer up top at 6:54.
The Blueshirts, who had snuffed Philly’s first three power plays, killed 31 of 34 over the last 10 games. The Rangers’ own power play was ineffectual in going 0-for-2, completing the last 10 games, 6-for-30.
Jody Shelley, who had not scored in 62 games and in over a calendar year before getting one in Friday night’s 4-3 Garden victory over the Flyers, got the Blueshirts’ lone goal yesterday from in front by redirecting a Michal Rozsival point drive. Shelley led the Rangers with four shots yesterday; good for him, not so good for the other forwards.
Gaborik, who was no factor, had two shots in 20:47. Linemate Christensen had three shots, but could not handle Gaborik’s neat, near-post centering feed five minutes into the third that probably represented the Rangers’ best opportunity of the period.
Including blocked shots and attempts that missed the net, the Flyers launched 78 shots as opposed to the Rangers’ 47.
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Marc Staal played 29:16, Rozsival, 26:54, and Dan Girardi, 26:04. Tortorella cut down to two pairs (Staal-Girardi; Rozsival, Wade Redden, 19:55) for the final 6:37 of regulation and the OT, bypassing Michael Del Zotto and Anders Eriksson.
Boyle returned after missing nine games (ankle), replacing Ryan Callahan, who on Friday reinjured the knee that had sidelined him previously for four games. Sean Avery missed his seventh straight (knee).
The Blueshirts finished with 38 victories and 44 defeats (38-33-11). Breakup day is tentatively scheduled for tomorrow.