Post-game Xtra: Rangers look ahead to first round

                         Kanata on my mind…..

                         For Games Three and Four anyway….

                         The Rangers will host the Senators at Madison Square Garden starting Thursday, and then on to Ottawa, and frankly, it’s a surprise. (I was secretly hoping for Florida, have to cancel those Fort Lauderdale reservations, sigh…)

                         Even the Washington reporters who had arrived here last night were fully  expecting a Rangers-Caps redux from last April.

                         But the Rangers were flat last night and the Caps scored two goals in the first 2:18 and the building sagged.  Once the third goal came on a power play at 18:13 of the second period, the concession lines got longer.

                         Here’s some of coach John Tortorella’s post-game assessment. (Notice he didn’t say anything that might get him fined. Very vanilla.)

                        “I thought we played hard,” he said. “It didn’t take much for them to score goals and it took us a bit to try and score…I’m glad the 82 are out of the way and now the real stuff starts….I don’t think we played that badly… it’s hard in these situations when you clinch it, you get down two nothing, the first two shots, but I liked the way we kept on trying…No matter who we play---I know you guys will say we should’ve played Washington, now we play Ottawa---you don’t go about your business that way, this team here, the New York Rangers, can beat anybody in this league… I’m really excited about starting out and I know the guys are too, our team’s going to be ready to play.”

                          Here’s some more quotes and stats:

                          Ryan Callahan: “We felt ready. We wanted to win. You want to go with a win into the post-season, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t the start we wanted.”

                         Caps coach Dale Hunter: “We jumped on them early. Against a team like this---they’re the best in the league---to come out here and play like that, it’s a credit to these guys.”

***

                         Henrik Lundqvist, who said his sore right forearm was not an issue, made just 13 saves and finished 21-10-2 at home…Marian Gaborik had six shots on goal and skated in 82 games for the first time in his career….Brian Boyle’s goal was his fifth in nine games….Stu Bickel had his ninth assist…Marc Staal played 23:56 and had six hits. He and Anton Stralman were a minus-2....Rangers are off tomorrow and will practice the next three days. Complete playoff schedule due tomorrow at 1 from NHL.

                        Happy Easter and Passover, folks...