Rangers end a dreadful season with one final disgrace

PHILADELPHIA — This was some way to go out.

The Rangers got blown out in their regular-season finale, losing 5-0 to the Flyers on Saturday afternoon. The Flyers, by way of Claude Giroux’s hat trick and a shutout from goalie Brian Elliott, punched their ticket to the postseason while the Rangers slink off for the first spring without a playoff appearance in seven years.

“We knew the season was going to be over a while. It sucks,” forward Mats Zuccarello said before knowing about the firing of coach Alain Vigneault later in the night. “We’ve been one of the top teams for a long time now, and sometimes it’s time for these rebuilds to have a season that you’re not happy with. S–t happens, you know.”

This has been a very young roster for the Rangers (34-39-9) for some time, after they traded off a ton of veteran assets before the deadline in hopes of making this rebuilding a rather quick one. Which is exactly what 36-year-old goalie Henrik Lundqvist wants after the Flyers (42-26-14) peppered him with 40 shots, including 31 in the opening 40 minutes, when Philadelphia took a 4-0 lead.

“Last two months, it’s been tough to really feel the joy when you play the game,” Lundqvist said. “You compete and try to accomplish something out there. And when you’re not, it’s not as much fun.”

The Rangers had a chance to put a wrinkle into the postseason hopes of the Flyers, who came in needing one point to clinch a berth. But it was never a contest, with Ivan Provorov scoring 6:34 in, Giroux getting his 100th point of the season on a power-play goal at 12:24 of the second, then Michael Raffl and Giroux scoring six seconds apart late in the second period to pretty much put a bow on it.

“I don’t know, it’s hard to say how I feel right now,” said Lundqvist, who sat there with his arm on his crossbar as hats rained down on the ice after Giroux finished the hat trick on a breakaway at 10:11 of the third.

Veteran forward Matt Beleskey was summoned from AHL Hartford to make his Rangers debut, he and his onerous contract having come over in the trade that sent Rick Nash to the Bruins. Also coming up and making his NHL debut was winger Steven Fogarty. They joined a lineup with two teenage rookies in Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil, who were joined by Fogarty after the game on their way back to the Wolf Pack to finish out the season in the minors.

Maybe there they will have a better chance of going into the summer with a better taste in their mouths. Because right now, it never has been more clear how much the Rangers need to change if they want to be competitive next season.

“I think the next few months is going to be crucial for this team, this organization,” Lundqvist said. “All of us players, we need to come back and make sure we get back in the playoffs. That’s where you want to be. It’s about winning.”