WASHINGTON — It can be such ugly hockey. That is Black-and-Blueshirt hockey. But it is beautiful hockey in the eyes of the beholders who advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals with their Game 7, 5-0 rout of the Capitals last night that created franchise history.
They have gone back to the good old days, back to a time when the Rangers got down and dirty for a living, when they won by packing the middle of the defensive zone and using their bodies as dead-end blockades while patient at the other end when things didn’t quite go their way.
And all the while knowing full well that when things broke down, King Henrik of Lundqvist would pick up their banner and hold it up high like a torch.
Back, that is, to last year.
“I was more confident last year,” Lundqvist said following his second consecutive elimination-game shutout. “We had more going on our way.
“I think we had to work harder this year.”
They worked harder, better and smarter than the Caps in this series, that’s for sure, winning four of the final five games, surrendering two goals over the final three, getting 27 power plays to Washington’s 12 after the 7:00 mark of the second period of Game 1; growing as a unit, period by period.
“The way we have been playing, especially the last two or three games, I can feel the confidence from the team and they can feel my confidence,” Lundqvist said. “As a goalie, when you feel that confidence from the group, it makes it a lot easier.”
Toughness is so often turning the other cheek. That’s what Ryan McDonagh did last night in absorbing a brutal blow from Alex Ovechkin just under nine minutes into the first on which the defenseman’s face was raked against the glass. There was no retaliation; no vengeance sought.
The discrepancy in man-advantages? That explains it right there.
Goals for the mighty Ovechkin after the second period of Game 1? That would be none. That would be vengeance right there.
You know that line that goes, this hurts me more than it hurts you? Well, it all but certainly applied to the dynamic between John Tortorella and Brad Richards when the coach on Sunday finally moved one of his favorite players over to a fourth line between Arron Asham and Chris Kreider.
Lo and behold, it was Asham who gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead, driving one from the top of the right circle that handcuffed Braden Holtby short side at 13:19 in converting a drop pass from Kreider after the winger streaked from his own end following a break-away save on Mike Green by Lundqvist.
Speed, it’s good to have on the ice on your side, innocent as Kreider may have once been but sure isn’t now.
Of course it was Asham, whose second goal of the first round gave him twice as many in the series than Rick Nash and Ryan Callahan combined.
Goals for Callahan? One, after his score at 0:13 of the third gave the Rangers a 4-0 lead. Hits for Callahan last night? Seven, and six of them in the first period. Blocked shots for Callahan for the playoffs? Eighteen, more than any other forward.
Still no goals for Nash? Nope. But The Big Easy was anything but to play against last night, involved throughout, more of a force than he had been in any prior game.
“This is a learning experience for me,” said Nash, who had never won so much as a playoff game in his nine years at Columbus. “I think I’m going to enjoy this for a few hours before focusing on what’s next.”
The Blueshirts won a pair of Game 7’s on their way to the eastern finals last year, both 2-1, both at the Garden, one of them over the Caps.
But never before had a Rangers’ team won a Game 7 on the road. Now it’s been there and done that. Now they go to Boston for Game 1 against the Bruins.
After going back to the future.
larry.brooks@nypost.com