NHL

Rangers’ King looks like commoner in crucial loss

In the beginning, and then again at the end, with Game 5 and very possibly the season on the line, the Devils brazenly and unceremoniously removed The King’s crown and stabbed the Rangers’ Stanley Cup dream with their pitchfork, turning the Garden into a hushed hell on ice.

This was a night for once when the Rangers were asked to save Henrik Lundqvist instead of the other way around — and ultimately could not.

A night when they managed to summon every ounce of their heart and will and beyond, and it still wasn’t enough.

A night when more than a few of them fought to remember what it was like when they were young phenoms on the pond and no goalie alive could stop them.

A night when what could have been one of the epic comebacks in Rangers playoff history, a night when a 3-0 deficit had become 3-3, a night when a Miracle on 33rd Street appeared possible, was ruined when Ryan Carter beat Lundqvist on a centering corner pass from Stephen Gionta with 4:24 left, before Zach Parise’s empty-netter iced it.

Devils 5, Rangers 3.

Rangers on the brink, one defeat from extinction.

“Unfortunately I thought we had the puck, and then I didn’t really see their guy coming on the back door,” Lundqvist said into the light of the television cameras. “I need to look around even though we have the puck to expect if something happens, but I didn’t, and then it’s just too late.”

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The classy Lundqvist soon beckoned the reporters once he completed his television obligations, and kept speaking softly seated at his locker, The King without his crown.

“We worked so hard to get back in this game … wish it didn’t end the way it did … tough and frustrating end to the game,” he said at various intervals.

The Devils had turned it into a track meet right from the jump, and only 4:13 into Game 5, two pucks had darted past Lundqvist. Mike Rupp and Michael Del Zotto had left Lundqvist naked against Gionta, who backhanded one past Lundqvist from directly in front.

“I was just a little slow to react to it even though I was in the good position,” Lundqvist said.

Then Marc Staal crashed against the boards in the Devils’ zone, forcing Artem Anisimov to peel back to defend Patrik Elias in front of the net to no avail.

And when Parise resourcefully sticked the puck over to Travis Zajac, Lundqvist looked helpless when Zajac, steaming in from the goalie’s left side, whistled the puck past him on his right. It was the kind of shot Lundqvist is supposed to be able to stop in his sleep, especially with the stakes so high.

It was Brandon Prust, of all people, who stopped the bleeding, and awakened his team and his building. Then it was Captain Ryan Callahan’s turn, his left skate deflecting the puck past Martin Brodeur.

Suddenly, the Rangers didn’t look so tired anymore. Suddenly, the Devils’ vaunted forechecking wasn’t so vaunted anymore. Suddenly, the Rangers were hard on the puck. Suddenly, the Garden was on fire. Zubrus was in the penalty box for hooking Marian Gaborik. A roar went up when Callahan, following a slapshot from Brad Richards, hit the left post from Brodeur’s right. That close to 3-3.

The Rangers kept coming, kept buzzing.

The King stood his ground.

At the start of the third period, Brodeur left the net — a rookie mistake — attempting to clear the puck and paid dearly for it. Gaborik was credited with the goal 17 seconds in when Derek Stepan seemed to push his pass/shot as well as Brodeur into the net.

The Garden sang: “Mar-ty … Mar-ty … Mar-ty.”

Hearts raced. Adam’s appled. Overtime beckoned.

And then suddenly it didn’t.

It was Lundqvist’s job last night to show up as the Stone Ranger.

On a night when the Rangers needed The King of New York hockey, they got a pauper.

And so 18 years later, the Rangers head back to New Jersey for a Game 6 needing two games to survive. But this time, there is no guarantee they will. And this time, there is no Mark Messier.