WASHINGTON — Hunched over, seated on the bench in front of his stall, elbows on his knees, head in hand, still dressed in all his gear other than his jersey, alone with his thoughts in a crowded postgame locker room was Martin St. Louis.
He had been alone with the puck on his stick for fleeting moments on a second-period breakaway, too, the Rangers down 1-0 to the Caps with 6:40 showing on the clock in a tense and captivating Game 3 on Monday.
St. Louis had blocked a John Carlson shot and set off down the left side against Braden Holtby, the tying goal on his stick. But Brooks Orpik came and closed quickly from the other side, forcing St. Louis just enough so the tying goal on his stick never materialized as the tying goal in the net.
Instead, Holtby gobbled up St. Louis’ wrist shot to the chest. Instead, the Rangers remained scoreless, as they would for the full 60 minutes in this 1-0 game off which the Caps will go into Wednesday’s Game 4 with a 2-1 lead in the series.
No goals for the Rangers. No goals for St. Louis. On Monday or now through eight games this postseason.
“On the breakaway, [Orpik] forced me to hurry a little bit. He made sure that I couldn’t deke or make a play coming across, but I got my shot,” St. Louis said. “I just didn’t score.
“You know what, though?” No. 26 asked rhetorically, talking to The Post. “I had the puck a lot and I played the game I wanted to. I felt good. It just didn’t happen for me.
“Personally, it was one of my better games in a long time. I’m coming out of this game with confidence going into the next one. I’m going to build off this game.”
This was the best game of the series. The Rangers for the most part dictated the pace. The Caps remained poised, and counter-punched with the Presidents’ Trophy winners all night long, giving every bit as much as they took, their remade defense featuring critical offseason free-agent signees Orpik and Matt Niskanen frustrating the Rangers to no end by continuing to effectively box out in front on shots from the top.
But despite the effort and in spite of another outstanding performance from Henrik Lundqvist, beaten only on Jay Beagle’s double-ricochet from behind the net off first Keith Yandle’s skate and then The King’s at 7:31 of the second, the Whiteshirts went down.
No goals for the NHL’s third-highest-scoring team during the regular season, which has scored 15 goals in eight tournament matches, getting to three only twice. No goals from St. Louis. No goals from Nash in this series, and one in the playoffs on 32 shots after getting three on 85 shots last year.
“It’s definitely frustrating when your goalie gives you a chance to win,” said Nash, who had seven shots on 15 attempts and dominated a series of shifts. “I definitely look at myself, and it’s frustrating.”
The Rangers had a good number of strong down-low shifts during the match. They willed themselves to get into and win their share of battles against a more physical and bigger team. But they were unable to gain consistent traction or speed on breakouts or in transition through the neutral zone, while their tic-tac-toe game was disrupted by the Caps’ backchecking and pressure on the puck.
“It’s kind of hard for both teams to create big chances,” said Lundqvist, who has a 1.43 goals-against average and .949 save percentage over his last eight playoff games in Washington, beginning in 2012. “It’s just something we’ll have to talk about; get in front more and create better chances.”
Everyone recognizes the hit the Rangers took when Mats Zuccarello was hit by that Ryan McDonagh shot in the first period of the clincher against the Penguins and sustained the head injury that has imperiled his availability for the remainder of the postseason.
And everyone can see that the chemistry with Nash and Derick Brassard that seemed innate with Zuccarello on the right just isn’t in evidence with St. Louis having moved into his vacated spot.
That’s no excuse for the Rangers, though. It can’t be. Certainly St. Louis, who scored only seven goals in his final 35 regular-season matches, isn’t looking for excuses. Instead, he’s looking forward to Wednesday.
“It’s difficult when they don’t go in, but I’m not getting down on myself,” he said. “I’m confident going into Game 4.
“Yes, I am.”