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No one was to blame and everyone was to blame for Wednesday night at the Garden during which the Rangers turned what could have and should have been a night to remember on Broadway into one that will be impossible to forget.
There are teams you might not mind seeing collapse the way the Rangers did in losing a 4-3 double-overtime Game 4 to the Capitals after entering the third period with a 3-0 lead, teams you might feel could use a dose of humility; haughty, self-satisfied, or lazy ones.
None of those descriptions fits the Rangers, who beginning with tomorrow afternoon’s Game 5 in D.C. will be on the brink of extinction for as long as they survive. From a hockey sense, the fellas surely earned their fate, but it’s not as if they had it coming.
The problem was, the Capitals were coming . . . and coming . . . and coming, led by the dynamic, dominant, world-class Alex Ovechkin, who brought you out of your seat essentially every time he gained control of the puck. This was the resplendent Ovechkin who seemed to have gone out of his way much of the season to repress his natural charisma in order to fit in as a drone on the Capitals’ assembly line.
Ovechkin was breathtaking Wednesday night in leading a relentless charge against the Rangers after the Blueshirts threw away the first 1:16 of the third period on a power play that’s become so dysfunctional that it now acts as a depressant. Of course, he wasn’t the only one.
A couple of mistakes within a minute, at 2:47 and 3:44, and the Rangers were reduced to spending the rest of the night pretty much as another 20 spectators at the Garden, without the chanting, of course.
The “Can You Hear Us?!” second-period serenade of Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau was a classic, right there with the Knicks’ fans’ “Goodbye Lewie!” serenade of the then-Lew Alcindor during the 1970 NBA playoffs.
Had Boudreau had access to the PA system during the final 52:36 before Jason Chimera seized the moment to score one of the flukiest winners ever following a deathly serious slapstick routine between Marian Gaborik and Henrik Lundqvist, the Capitals coach might have asked:
“Can You See Us?!”
They were something to see, attacking, dominating, making plays, winning pucks, almost owning the puck while the Rangers chased, even when they were in the lead, they were chasing.
Remember that third period in Boston on March 27, from which the Rangers emerged with a 1-0 victory despite the Bruins’ astonishing 34-7 advantage in shot attempts over the final 20 minutes?
Wednesday night, when a victory would have placed the burden of proof on the Capitals, there can be no doubt about that and in a third period that began with a 3-0 lead, the shot attempts were 31-5 against.
That’s 31-5, with one weapon after another getting off attempts for the Capitals while the Rangers simply could not make a play, simply could not find a player to make it.
There was Ovechkin (and there, and there!) and there were Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson. For the Rangers, well, they couldn’t find a game-breaker, they couldn’t find a difference maker.
Gaborik had a couple of glorious chances, one on a late third-period power-play one-timer from the slot, the other breaking in from the right side in the second OT. A year ago, when Gaborik surged onto the stage by scoring 21 goals in his first 25 games as a Ranger, you’d have expected him to score.
Now, not.
The third period, the overtimes, the outcome, they are not a reflection of commitment, work ethic, discipline, coaching, or even experience.
The final 52:36 was about talent.