WASHINGTON — The decision to scratch Sean Avery from what would become last night’s 4-0 Game 5 debacle of a defeat to the Capitals, which forces this opening-round best-of-seven back to the Garden tomorrow afternoon, was not explained by John Tortorella.
It was, however, endorsed by Avery himself in a conversation with The Post minutes after the match in which Henrik Lundqvist proved to be made of flesh and blood, not high-tech substances.
“I totally stand behind what Torts did,” said Avery, who took two mindless penalties in the final 10 minutes of the Rangers’ 2-1 Game 4 victory. “The team comes first.
“I made a mistake. I took two bad penalties. I put the game in jeopardy. It wasn’t something I did intentionally, but that’s no excuse. I did it.
“I realize that Torts is making me a better player. The team always comes first. I’ll do anything for these guys. No one feels worse than me at this point.”
Avery said he does not know whether he’ll be in the lineup when the Rangers go for the kill for the second time. The Blueshirts clearly missed him and his edge in a game that resembled the worst of the worst of the regular season.
“That’s up to Torts,” Avery said. “Obviously, I want to play, but it’s his call to decide what’s best for the team.”
The Rangers were dreadful last night — passive, disorganized and undisciplined throughout. Scott Gomez, who was abysmal, picked up a retaliatory slash against Alex Ovechkin at 1:16, thus proving that Tortorella’s plea for his team to stay out of the box went either unheard or unheeded.
That penalty was killed, but the Caps took a 1-0 lead at 4:58 off a shorthanded goal from Matt Bradley, who beat Lundqvist in alone after eluding Chris Drury. There were 42 seconds remaining on the power play. Tortorella responded by putting Aaron Voros, Blair Betts and Colton Orr.
“Some of these [top] guys have to understand they’re not going to be out there all the time,” Tortorella said. “Your power play is a microcosm of your game because the top players are on it. That’s been a huge problem, on the power play and five-on-five. We have to get more from our top players.”
That most prominently includes Gomez, who missed Avery’s speed and forecheck game on his flank; Drury, made to look foolish first by Bradley and later by Ovechkin on a circus goal that closed the scoring late in the second; Nik Antropov, who has fallen off the face of the earth; and Nik Zherdev, scoreless in the series.
The Rangers, 0-for-4 on the power play and 0-for-18 since Game 1, have scored three goals in four games against Simeon Varlamov while being shut out twice. The Caps, who came in with eight goals on 149 shots, scored twice on their first four shots against the King, who yielded a horrid no-angle goal to Bradley at 12:07 of the first that made it 2-0 and somehow sealed the Rangers’ fate.
“That was a bad goal,” Lundqvist said. “As far as the game, I’m not even going to analyze it or think about it too much.
“I know I can play better and I know I have to play better.”
Lundqvist, who was pulled after the second, knows he will play tomorrow. Avery doesn’t. he should. The Rangers need him.