It took about 15 hours to get a self-assessment from Rangers center Brain Boyle concerning his first game back from a concussion, and it came clear as possible.
“I stunk,” Boyle said yesterday about his performance in the Capitals’ 3-2 win in Game 2 of the conference semifinal at the Garden on Monday, Boyle’s first game back after missing three straight.
“I’ve got to be better,” Boyle said. “For the most part, we played well, but I’ve got to be better.”
Boyle and the Rangers were preparing to head to Washington for tonight’s Game 3, the series tied 1-1. By taking a big hit to the head from Chris Neil in Game 5 of the opening-round series against the Senators, it would have been easy for Boyle to explain away his performance, to lend logic to why he played the way he did.
Instead, Boyle did the exact opposite.
“At this point, it doesn’t really matter,” he said about why his game dropped off. “It’s playoffs, I’ve got to be better than that.”
Boyle said, “I’m good [physically]. … You don’t have to ask me about my head.” But because it was his first concussion, he did think about it during the game, yet did his best to focus on the task at hand.
“After I got banged around a little bit, we had some physical battles, I wasn’t thinking about it too much,” Boyle said. “But it was good. No ill effects.’’
The main reason there is so much focus on Boyle is he was the Rangers’ catalyst early in the first round, scoring three goals in the first three games of the playoffs — two of them game-winners — while the Rangers took the series lead over the Senators, 2-1.
He was effective in Game 4, but in the second period of Game 5, Neil lined him up and landed a shoulder directly into his head, stunning the 6-foot-6 Boyle and knocking him out of the final two games of the series, both of which the Rangers would win.
Asked if that was the best hockey of his career, Boyle said, “Probably in this league, Yeah. Four games, anyway.
“I felt pretty good physically, pucks going in,” Boyle said. “That’s a long time ago, a different series. Now we’ve got another team, and if I’m going to be a big part of it, like I want to be, I have to be better.”
Boyle thought back to one specific series when he needed to be better, one more critical than any other in the game.
After the Rangers had erased a 2-0 deficit to tie it 2-2 with just under eight minutes remaining, the Capitals went on a power play and Boyle took the ice with the first-unit penalty kill. Consistently relied on in the regular season to take defensive-zone draws, Boyle skated up to the dot against Niklas Backstrom — and lost.
The puck went back to Alex Ovechkin, who immediately fired a rifle shot past Henrik Lundqvist for what would be the game-winning goal.
“I lose the draw clean, I don’t block a shot, then we’re down,” Boyle said. “It just wasn’t enough to win.”
bcyrgalis@nypost.com