BOSTON — Now that it’s over, there can be no more illusions.
The Rangers’ season ended Saturday night at the TD Garden with a 3-1 loss to the Bruins in Game 5 of this Eastern Conference semifinal, and with it came the stark reality the Rangers were not as deep, not as physical and were thoroughly outplayed from the start of this series to its finish.
Against a Boston team that likes to play a similar, defense-first, grinding game, the Rangers were the ones that took most of the punishment. The Bruins ran their four lines all over them, and there was little push-back from a Blueshirts team whose bench was shortened not by the temperament of their mercurial coach, John Tortorella, but out of necessity.
“Even through it all, we’ve been fine in the room,” Tortorella said before the game. “We win a game, and momentum is on your side so you try to keep it.”
The momentum did start on the Rangers’ side after a thrilling 4-3 overtime win in Game 4, but it wasn’t there for very long. After a good first period, the Bruins took over and never looked back.
The Bruins will meet Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference finals.
When Gregory Campbell swept in an empty-netter in the waning seconds, the Rangers’ season came to an end with many more questions than answers.
The Rangers found out in the second period the Bruins were not about to let this series get away from them, like they did against the Maple Leafs in the first round when they were forced to have to win a Game 7 after being up in the series 3-1.
Early in the period, Mats Zuccarello took a hooking penalty, and the Bruins capitalized when rookie defenseman Torey Krug fired a one-timer into and over Henrik Lundqvist’s left arm to tie it 1-1. It was Krug’s fourth goal in his first five playoff games (six career NHL games total), and the Bruins’ man-advantage then had converted three of its past four opportunities.
From that point forward, the Rangers had very little push back, and the Bruins titled the ice substantially. Midway through the period, there was a sequence of three shots in 30 seconds from David Krejci and Nathan Horton, all of them barely stopped by Lundqvist.
There was little Lundqvist could do four minutes later when veteran defenseman Roman Hamrlik made an atrocious turnover while trying to make a pass through the neutral zone. He fumbled as Daniel Paille rushed into the zone and attempted a cross-ice pass to Shawn Thornton. It was there the puck was at the feet of fourth-liner Kris Newbury, who couldn’t corral it and watched as it went past him and onto the blade of Gregory Campbell. A quick flip of Campbell’s wrists and the puck was over Lundqvist’s right shoulder, giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead.
In the opening 20 minutes, the Rangers played an assertive and aggressive game, something they had been lacking for much of the opening four contests. They excelled in the open ice, and were not allowing themselves to get pushed around by the burly Bruins.
Just about midway through the period, Derek Dorsett finally got what he had been looking for all series — a fight. By pushing and tugging at Shawn Thornton enough, he finally got him to lose his cool and drop his gloves. The fight may have been a wash, yet it seemed to annoy the Bruins just enough that they began to show their agitation, most notably in the form of Krejci taking a bad, after-whistle cross check penalty with 9:45 gone by.
On the ensuing power play, Dan Girardi fired a slap shot through traffic — most importantly, a Brian Boyle screen — the puck getting past Tuukka Rask to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
Like the remainder of their season, it would be short lived.