WASHINGTON — The process of building the Rangers so they aren’t left bringing knives to a gunfight, the way they were in this playoff confrontation with the Capitals, will continue with John Tortorella behind the bench, The Post has learned.
Sources have told The Post that Tortorella’s contract, originally due to expire after this season, was extended a couple of months ago.
Garden and Rangers executives cited policy in declining comment, but it is believed that the extension will cover the next three seasons. Tortorella, who was hired on Feb. 23, 2009, has taken the Rangers to the playoffs twice in three years, but his teams have gone out in the first round both times, and both times to the Capitals.
Two years ago it was a seven-game series, the Rangers blowing a 3-1 series lead. This time, it ended in a tidy five games, elimination coming yesterday with a 3-1 defeat in which the Rangers scored their lone goal — and just their eighth goal of the series — with 31.5 seconds to play.
“I don’t think our team is fully built yet, and I’ll be honest, we’re not there as far as talent,” Tortorella said minutes after the season came to an end. “You look at where this Washington team was, and [how they added] draft picks.
“We’re still in a process, trying to get better,” he added. “There are areas with our team where we need to be better. But we’ll continue to build and continue to find our way.”
Lack of goal-scoring undermined the Rangers in this series just as that deficiency threatened to derail the team during the season. The power play that finished the season on a 1-for-27 skid was dysfunctional, going 1-for-20 after yesterday’s two failures.
The fact, however, is that despite those deficiencies, the Rangers had a 1-0 third-period lead here in Game 1 before losing in overtime and had that 3-0 third-period lead in Game 4 at the Garden before losing in double overtime.
“I feel that when you are playing a team that’s a little better and you get a few opportunities, you have to grab them, because if you don’t, it’s too tough,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who played well in the series but twice could not find the way to seal the deal. “I have to think the next couple of days about what went wrong.
“I think everybody needs to [reflect] on that.”
Wojtek Wolski, who scored the lone goal, was one of the team’s best forwards. Marian Gaborik was a threat, but was unable to locate his fastball. Sean Avery was very impressive. Brian Boyle had yet another strong game, but went scoreless through five games despite pumping a series-leading 25 shots on net.
Dan Girardi was a portrait in courage playing with a finger he dislocated early in the first and on ankle that was at least badly bruised. Marc Staal left it all on the ice even as he was beaten one-on-one on a power rush by Alex Ovechkin for the second-period goal that made it 2-0. There was little if any fault to be found with the Michael Sauer-Ryan McDonagh pair.
But the Rangers weren’t good enough to extend this series, weren’t good enough to extend their season.
“It’s fair to say that the team that deserved to win this series did win the series,” Avery said. “We played hard, and maybe we didn’t get some bounces, but we didn’t score enough, and ultimately that’s what it comes down to.”
No Ranger attempted to put the defeat into perspective, no Ranger cited the achievement of making the playoffs as a salve to the wound.
“There’s nothing to be happy about right now,” said Brandon Dubinsky, who couldn’t get untracked yesterday. “It hurts. It hurts a lot.”
larry.brooks@nypost.com