Today officially marks the end of yet another unsuccessful season for the New York Rangers in their quest for hockey's holy grail. While not everything about this season should be looked at in a negative light, it marks the next step in the process of a team that will (at least in my opinion) be right back to, if not much further than they finished this season.

Rick Nash:

When asked to assess his playoff performance, Rick Nash said, "Good." When asked what surprised him about New York, Nash said, "Traffic."

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) May 27, 2013

uhhh..... what?
Seriously, a player of Rick Nash's caliber doesn't go from what he did in the regular season to basically evaporating come playoff time. Somethings amiss...

The Boston Bruins advance to the Eastern Conference Finals with a 3-1 win over the New York Rangers taking the series four games to one. For a box score, click here.

Excellent first 20 minutes and 1-0 lead at the break was a terrible, awful tease for the final 40 minutes of play to come. Second and third periods chock full of defensive mistakes, bad breakouts and uninspired play. No desperation, no heart, no will to send this game back to NY for Game 6.

The New York Rangers visit the Boston Bruins at TD Garden for Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Semifinals match-up starting at 5:30 p.m. The Bruins lead the series 3-1. For a preview go to Yahoo! Sports.

Rangers Game Notes

TV: NBC Sports Network; Radio: ESPN Radio (98.7 FM), XM 212

Live Stream (Don't click on ads in stream, may download virus):
http://www.firstrow1.eu/watch/188383/1/watch-boston-bruins-vs-new-york-rangers.html

Probable Lines:
Hagelin-Brassard-Callahan
Nash-Stepan-Kreider
Pyatt-Boyle-Zuccarello
Haley-Newbury-Dorsett

McDonagh-Girardi
Del Zotto-Moore
Hamrtime-Eminger

Goaltenders:
Henrik Lundqvist - 5-6, 2.15 gaa, .934 sv%, 2 so.

Tuukka Rask - 7-4, 2.33 gaa, .925 sv%, 0 so

Opponent Notes:
- David Krejci leads the Bruins with 5g, 12a in the playoffs.

Just when I thought I couldn't love Chris Kreider any more after his Game 4 overtime winner, he dropped this bomb when asked about the Rangers chances in this series after the game (via NHL.com)...

"Goonies never say die."

...amazing! Seriously, has any professional athlete ever used that line before? In my opinion, it needs to be used more. Should easily be the Rangers motto for the remainder of the playoffs.

While not as inspiring, I also loved Henrik Lundqvist's post game quote as well...

Last week, I said that John Tortorella needed to change up the Rangers potpourri fourth line of Brad Richards, Chris Kreider and Arron Asham to a legit fourth line after they were completely owned by the Bruins trio of Gregory Campbell, Daniel Paille and Shawn Thornton in Game 1 of the series.

Well, it took the Rangers head coach three games, but he finally got it right when he assembled the physical trio of Michael Haley, Kris Newbury and Derek Dorsett to compete against the Bruins fourth line.

And it seemed to work, as Campbell, Paille and Thornton were held scoreless in Game 4 after combining for 2g, 4a and a +8 in the first three games.

Here's Haley on what made them effective (via Blueshirts United)...

“We want it to be physical. Newbs, Dorss and I have a smiliar game. That’s our bread and butter, and we want to establish that every chance we get.”

Henrik Lundqvist also acknowledged the spark they provided...

Apparently Bruins management has never brought in Alec Baldwin's character from the movie Glengary Glen Ross to give the team the ABC speech, because they suck at closing...

So if you're a Rangers fan holding on to hope that your beloved Blueshirts can actually make a run at history by coming back from a 0-3 deficit, it actually might not be as far fetched as you think.

According to Scott Barboza at ESPN.com the Bruins have posted a 6-11 record in their last 17 playoff games (includes their epic 3-0 collapse to the Flyers in 2010) in which they can close out a series, including 1-3 in such instances this year, following Thursday's overtime loss to the Rangers.

And the biggest culprit for that record seems to be Tuukka Rask who is 2-8, with a 3.50 gaa and .890 sv% in close out games. To put that in perspective, in non-close out games he's 12-2 with a 1.98 gaa and .936 sv%.

Jesus, Rask has a worse time closing than Armando Benitez in Game 1 of the 2000 Subway Series.

Here's Rask on what the Bruins need to do to buck that trend...

"When teams are facing elimination, it's kind of a screw this, let's go out there and play attitude. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We just need to match the desperation level of the team we're facing and not being too tight and squeezing our sticks too tight and just playing the game."

Conversely, the Rangers have become deft at staying alive as they're 6-1 in their last seven playoffs games in which they faced elimination.

And the biggest reason for the Rangers survival is none other than Henrik Lundqvist who sports a 5‑0 record with a 0.98 goals-against average, a .966 save percentage and two shutouts in his last five home playoff games when facing elimination.

Here's Ryan Callahan on why the Rangers have been so good in elimination games (via Bergen Record)...

Bergen Record - Rangers stand tall with backs against the wall

Bergen Record - Rangers notes: McDonagh gets more power play time

Bergen Record - Rangers' three keys to Game 5

New York Post - Brassard swats Boston’s gnat

New York Post - Rask mistake gives Rangers new life heading into Game 5

New York Post - Tortorella: More ‘power’ to underused McDonagh

Daily News - Brassy Blueshirts out to stay alive in Game 5

Daily News - Tortorella's bunch seems loaded for Bruins entering Game 5

New York Times - Rangers Ask a Do-It-All Defenseman to Do a Little More

Newsday - Rangers again will try to keep season alive

Newsday - Bruins coach: Game 4 loss 'the past'

Newsday - Torts: My fault McDonagh not on power play

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Hank Winnick/Newsday

Andrew Gross at the Bergen Record reports that Chris Kreider was given a maintenance day from the team's optional practice today.

...reward for the game winner? lol

Meanwhile, Pat Leonard at the Daily News says that Ryane Clowe, Brad Richards, Darroll Powe and Marc Staal all skated with the taxi squad players before the optional. Anton Stralman did not practice today.

Gross adds that Michael Haley, Kris Newbury and Roman Hamrlik all participated in the optional.

...can you say same line-up in Game 5? If it ain't broke....

...having said that, I'm concerned about Hamrlik as he was made to look like a parking cone a few time during the game last night. Really need Stralman back soon.

Finally, John Tortorella admitted during his post practice press conference today that he liked what he saw from Ryan McDonagh on the power play last night and he screwed it up by not putting him there sooner.

We all know hockey is an emotionally-driven sport. The players feed off of it and are sometimes energized by it. Salty language usually couples high emotions, but did you ever expect to hear a referee engage in it?

That's exactly what happened last night in Game 4 between the Bruins and Rangers. During a stoppage, John Tortorella can be seen on the CNBC broadcast mouthing off to someone off camera. It turns out to be a referee, and the mics pick up what the official said back...

- It's always funny to hear these exchanges, especially on live TV. Torts really laid into the ref after getting cursed at. Lucky he wasn't tossed.

This wasn't the only instance of curing caught on live TV.

One thing about Chris Kreider that has always sort of bothered me is that he's a bit aloof. He doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve and he looks borderline bored sometimes out on the ice. But man that all changed with one re-direction goal to give the Rangers a Game 4 overtime victory and keep them alive in their best of seven series to the Bruins. Just check out the above pic. Pretty fired up just looking at it.

Here's the goal, which was an absolute thing of beauty...

...i think we're learning that at this point in his career, Kreider needs to be on a line with talent to be effective. He''s not  ready to be the focal point of the line just yet. Hopefully after last night, Tortorella is finally realizing this as well and the Rangers can start having some consistent offense in this series.

...oh yeah, sweet pass from Nash.

Here's Kreider on the winner (via New York Post)...