Simply put, the Rangers can’t string together consistent offense in Washington. Outside of Marian Gaborik’s triple overtime winner last year, they never play well there. Save me the whole regular season schtick. That counts in horseshoes and grenades. For whatever reason, they turn into pumpkins at Verizon Center. I’m sick of that place from their annoying goal horn to the loathe-some organ and their fans. I’ve had it up to here with the Caps. They lead the first round series 3-2 after defeating the Blueshirts 2-1 in overtime.

Just once, I’d love to see our team show some balls and comeback from a 3-2 deficit to beat that damn team in their building. That is the only way to erase the ridiculous notion that Braden Holtby is good. He isn’t. When the Rangers have shown a pulse offensively, he’s very beatable. They’ve spent too much of the series on their heels. Unable to get pucks out against relentless Cap pressure. That’s why they face elimination Sunday at MSG. I’ll be there for Game Six. I don’t normally do it on the blog. But I’m going to go on record and guarantee victory. There will be a Game Seven. Now, the onus is on our team to prove me right.

If they can’t force a seventh game, then they should hide in shame. I’m looking at you Ryan Callahan. Our captain plays his heart out. But no goals in five games ain’t cutting it. That might be expected from Brad Richards and Rick Nash but Captain Cally must finish. He’s had a disappointing series. Carl Hagelin and Derek Stepan have beaten Holtby. Isn’t it about time Callahan scores one of those extra effort goals they have lacked? I’m calling him out. If they are to comeback, the Rangers leader must step it up.

Why did John Tortorella have Nash with Richards? For what purpose. They stink together. You have to give Nash our best passing center. Anyone can see that he can’t skate. There’s no way he’s 100 percent. It still drives me crazy when he passes up shots for that awful spin-a-rama or dances away from traffic. Shoot the puck. Derick Brassard has been their best forward. He makes things happen. Stick Nash with Brass and Mats Zuccarello. The latter two have played their hearts out. There was MZA at the end of regulation sliding in front of a dangerous John Carlson shot. He makes things happen because he’s willing to get the uniform dirty. So has Brian Boyle, who for a second straight year has played his best hockey when it matters most. A pity that our lone goalscorer took such a selfish penalty, allowing Joel Ward to tie it.

Another thing. Sending out Richards and Nash for the first half of the power play isn’t working. The one unit getting things done is Brassard, Boyle, Zuccarello, John Moore and Mike Del Zotto or Dan Girardi. They didn’t have many chances but you can’t be serious sending Richards out on the point. He stinks. Why give him any PP time? It takes way too long to set up and the Caps always get easy clears. Callahan and Stepan haven’t been much better. That unit lacks cohesion and should’ve been broken up a long time ago.

Hard to believe it even needed overtime. The way the Caps dominated us in the second half, it should’ve ended in regulation. If not for some remarkable play from Henrik Lundqvist, it would’ve. He also made tremendous stops on Alex Ovechkin in sudden death before that pest Mike Ribeiro got to a Karl Alzner rebound. Fitting that he scored a garbage goal. God forbid the Rangers get one before this series ends. Our D never take the man in front and the forwards continue to let their D get shots through due to collapsing- screening Lundqvist. Brilliant.

At least they went for it in OT. Six shots and numerous chances. If only Callahan didn’t choke on one and Stepan the other. You can’t miss the net by that much. The Caps practically dared them to steal it. Those are our top guys and they failed. Hagelin had that one opportunity to put us up two early but John Erskine takes his feet out and forces him wide. I’m not touching that one. Nash did nothing until overtime, getting two great opportunities with Holtby shutting down his wraparound.

Losing Ryane Clowe hurt. Such a shame because in a series where our guys are getting beat up, Clowe’s one of the few who can wreak havoc. He’s good in the corners and really could help. Unfortunate that he takes an elbow and is likely done. Chalk it up to bad luck.

They didn’t do enough things to win. Got killed on face-offs and threw away the puck way too much. If a play isn’t there, hold onto the puck. That’s called puck possession. God forbid they do and are able to generate something off a cycle instead of playing into Washington’s hands. The Caps were good defensively but come on. They aren’t the ’95 Devils or the 70’s Canadiens. By now, our team should know how to attack them. This is the fourth time they’ve met in the last five years. All under Tort. He doesn’t get a pass.

By my calculation, the Rangers are 3-7 3-10 in playoff overtime since ’06. Lundqvist’s been in for every one. I’m not faulting him. Our team simply doesn’t know how to play when things get tight. They freeze up. The two OT wins versus these guys in the Conference Semis was the exception. If I’m also correct, they’re 2-5 2-7 under Tort. Beaten by household names like Chimera, Neil, Turris and now Ribeiro. You can’t make it up. I was off by three. All losses. How bad are they? I didn’t want to watch because I knew it was coming.

I’m no expert. But shouldn’t that awful OT record tell you something? There isn’t enough talent. The three OT heroes are easy: Rozsival ’07 Game 3 Conf. Semis 2 OT vs Buffalo. Gaborik and Staal’12 Games 3 and 5 Conf. Semis vs Washington. Given how great our goalie is, it’s sad that they have fared so poorly. Back in the mid-90’s, Ranger teams thrived on pressure. Not just Matteau. Tikkanen and Graves. They played to win.

Maybe the critics are right about the coach. They didn’t even mount anything the last 30 minutes of regulation. You can’t play that way. In their two wins at MSG, they didn’t. Is it psychological? They came out and controlled the first period. Then went away following Ward’s PPG.

I’m not handing out three stars. This game really frustrated me. It’s up to them to respond.