All of the laughter has died in the sorrow of the three consecutive defeats with which the Rangers have opened the finals prior to Wednesday night’s potential Game 4 Stanley Cup clincher for the Kings at the Garden.
All of the pomp has been overshadowed by the circumstance of facing a sweep on hockey’s biggest stage.
The whole world has been watching the Blueshirts fall on their faces.
“It’s been bittersweet,” said Chris Kreider, who has been held off the board for the first three matches. “You want to get here, it’s an achievement, but you want to win.
“So it’s been a bit frustrating from that standpoint. It’s about winning,” the winger said following the morning skate. “Winning doesn’t make it fun; winning is fun.”
The post-skate locker room was overrun by journalists seeking to glean the Rangers’ mindset heading into Game 4. One after another the Blueshirts dutifully responded by talking about training their focus nowhere else but on the first shift of the first period and then taking it one shift at a time, about neither looking back nor looking ahead.
It was the morning section of Hockey Playoff Clichés 101.
A week earlier, the ice was fresh, not a game had been played and the Rangers were bright-eyed over the prospect of getting their close-up.
“This is just … I don’t know, it seems like any other series at this point,” Brian Boyle said following the morning skate. “The build-up was different … the build-up was great and a lot of fun to be a part of, but this is not fun.
“We need to create a little fun around here. We need to create some hope.”
Derek Stepan, who has one assist through the first three matches, said on Wednesday morning he had still been able to appreciate the experience despite his team’s reversal of fortune in this round.
“Any time you have a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup, it’s a fun opportunity,” said Stepan. “To be one of two teams out of 30 in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s not easy to get here.
“Obviously you’re not going to enjoy yourself if you’re not winning, but it is fun to play at this time of year. It is fun to play in the playoffs. For me it’s my fourth playoffs in four seasons in the league, and I’m still learning, but I appreciate the opportunity to be here.”
Stepan was LA goaltender Jonathan Quick’s teammate for Team USA at the Sochi Olympics. The Rangers center, who was scratched for all but one preliminary-round game, said he developed a casual relationship with the Yanks’ No. 1 netminder.
“I was in a bit of a different mode, a more relaxed mode than the guys who were playing, so my interaction with them was a little different,” Stepan said. “I got to know [Quick] a little bit, we got along fine, but by no means were we tight. It’s not like I developed a bond with him.”
The Stepan-Kreider-Rick Nash top unit has yet to record a goal through three games against LA, with Stepan having recorded his assist on Martin St. Louis’ Game 2 power-play goal. Kreider had generated several golden opportunities in that 5-4 Game 2 double overtime defeat, including a breakaway on which he missed the net with 3:40 remaining in the first OT.
“That’s not what keeps me up at night,” Kreider said. “What’s harder for me is if I think I’m doing all the right things and working my ass off but I’m not finding the puck in good areas or getting any scoring chances. That’s Kafka-esque.
“The breakaway the other night sticks with you in the room right after, but you realize that there are things that are out of your control, like whether the puck rolls or goes on edge the way it did then. I get pissed when I don’t finish, but that’s part of the game.”
It has been a part of the finals the Rangers will no longer be a part of without a victory on Wednesday.
“It is a new day,” Anton Stralman said Wednesday morning. “The sun came up.”
Well, the sun obviously came up somewhere, but it was overcast and rainy in New York.