Players were still in their jerseys. Fans were still exiting Madison Square Garden. Minutes had passed since the Rangers’ season ended with a 4-2 loss to the Senators on Tuesday night — not nearly enough time for Rick Nash to figure out how another season ended earlier than he had planned.
Five years ago, Nash was a 27-year-old, brought to New York as the missing offensive star needed to lead the Rangers to a championship they’ve only won once since 1940.
Now, the 32-year-old knows how little time is left to make that happen.
“It’s tough for everything to sink in now,” Nash said. “For me it’s disappointing when you have a team that’s this good and an opportunity like we did.
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“You only get so many cracks at this.”
After recording two goals and an assist in the first five games of the playoffs, the forward’s play dipped in the second-round series against Ottawa. In his final seven games of the postseason, Nash was held to just one goal and one assist, failing to record a point in the last three games against the Senators.
But unlike past playoff struggles, Nash may have been slowed by an injured right knee, which was heavily wrapped following the Game 6 loss.
“I don’t want to be one of those guys that are complaining, but it was a battle,” said Nash, who had six shots on goal, and three blocked shots in Game 6. “There were some things that were bothering me, but it was the playoffs and everyone is playing through injuries.
“I don’t want to use anything as a crutch or an excuse.”
There was no use in making excuses. The season ended, and it didn’t matter how. Another opportunity was gone.
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And so it ends. It ends for the 2016-17 Rangers…
Nash has just one year remaining on his contract, with a $7.8 million salary-cap hit, making next season potentially his last run in New York.
Until then, he can only think of what might have been — again.
“What hits me the most is thinking back to Game 1, four minutes left; Game 2, three minutes left; Game 5, 1 minute 20 [seconds],” said Nash, referring to the Rangers’ multiple blown leads. “That’s just games that we have to close out that came back to haunt us.
“We had lots of leads in games on the road and we couldn’t close them out.”