WASHINGTON — If a coach wants to cut down to three lines and four (and a half) defensemen in the second game of the second round of the playoffs, that’s his prerogative.
If the same coach wants to do so without providing so much as a hint of an explanation, even when one of the decisions in particular seems especially curious — as in, where in the world was Artem Anisimov in the third period of Game 2? — well, that’s his prerogative, too.
But when that coach essentially trusts a trek of up to 28 games and seven weeks to such a small complement of athletes at such an early juncture, it is critical that his team capitalizes on every opportunity to nail down a victory when it’s there for taking, as Monday’s Game 2 was against Washington.
The coach, of course, is John Tortorella, the team, you know, is the Rangers, and they’re in a 1-1 dogfight with Capitals with the next two in D.C., just as they were in a seven-game dogfight with the Senators in Round 1.
And it all adds up — all the hits, all the blocked shots, all the shifts, all the games — all detours, if not roadblocks, to 16 victories.
The past is not necessarily prelude to the future in the playoffs, for if it were, nothing ever would happen for the first time. Still, not a single team has won the Stanley Cup after playing two consecutive seven-game series at the start of the playoffs since the NHL adopted the four-times-four format in 1987.
The Penguins of 2009 and 1992 are the only teams to win the Cup under this format after playing as many as 13 games in the opening two rounds.
Monday’s 3-2 defeat does not automatically consign the Rangers to either a six- or seven-game Round 2 rumpus, but the alternative would have plotted a more direct route to the Canyon of Heroes.
“It’s not that winning the game would have made it easy, because it wouldn’t have, but for a minute or two after it was over, that entire scenario of the advantage of playing fewer games overall did cross my mind,” Mike Rupp told The Post following yesterday’s optional skate at the Garden.
“But it was just a fleeting thought, and I let it go immediately, because our job is to focus on the next game and the next assignment regardless of the scenario and without getting caught up in long-term ramifications.”
Rupp was part of the unit with Anisimov and John Mitchell that remained on the bench the final 29 minutes of the match even after creating two glorious scoring opportunities in their three second-period shifts.
The first came when Anisimov’s right circle pass found Rupp in alone cutting to net from the left side at 4:20, only to have Braden Holtby make a pad save on Rupp’s backhand. Anisimov himself scorched a right circle shot off Holtby’s mask with 9:50 remaining in the period on what was the final shift of the night for the center and his linemates.
The decision to sit Anisimov, who scored Saturday’s Game 1 first goal on a hard-work wraparound, was both inexplicable, more so given third-line center Brian Boyle’s difficulties, and ultimately placed in the coach’s ever-expanding confidential file.
“There were some other things going on,” Tortorella said when asked by The Post why he sat Anisimov.
“You’re not going to get the answer,” he then replied when asked what those things might have been.
Anisimov, who finished with 4:56 of ice after getting 11:51 on Saturday and who averages 11:51 per game, said he did not know why he had been benched, suggesting, “Ask the coach.”
Ah, a man with a sense of humor.
“I thought [our line] had opportunities,” the center said. “But you have to take those opportunities and do something with them.”
Words of wisdom as applied to the Rangers, who did nothing with Monday’s opportunity and are likely to regret it.
larry.brooks@nypost.com