The Rangers have not played their best hockey in Newark, and the worst of it came last night when they lost to the Devils, 4-1, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Yet that hasn’t kept coach John Tortorella from seeing the glass as half full with the series, now a best-of-three, shifting back to the Garden for tomorrow night’s Game 5.
“I’m very optimistic,” Tortorella said. “I still think some guys are close to getting their games. I don’t think all of us are there. But as I’ve said all year long with this club, when you get in these situations — and we’ve been trading [wins and losses] all playoff season — they always find a way to find a good game.
“So I’m truly confident we’ll answer it the proper way,” he continued, “when we play our next one.”
Though the stat sheet had the Devils outshooting the Rangers just 30-29 — and out-attempting them just 52-50 — it was clear who dominated the play all evening, something that Tortorella wasn’t exactly willing to deny.
“I think the most important thing is we just have to have the puck more,” Tortorella said. “We had opportunities. We had the yips with it. We just gave it back to them, and they just progressed with their forecheck.”
The players echoed their coach’s sentiment, though in a little different manner.
“I’m pretty sure our composure has been pretty good all year long,” Derek Stepan said. “We just have to move past it as fast as we can and get ready for Game 5.”
In each of the Rangers’ three playoff series, they have won Game 1 only to lose Game 2. They have only won consecutive games within a series once, when they took Games 6 and 7 against the Senators in the first round.
After an emotional 3-0 win in Game 3 on Saturday, they followed up with a dud that kept them from taking a stranglehold on the bitter Battle of the Hudson.
“Of course we’re real, real disappointed now, not being able to come back with a big one here,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who made 26 saves. “We just have to forget about it.”
For a team that finished atop the Eastern Conference in the regular season with 109 points, the Rangers’ confidence in a comeback is reasonably well-founded.
“All I’m concerned about is the next game,” Tortorella said. “We need to answer the proper way. That’s the only thing I’m concerned about right now — how we’re going to answer. And we’ve done it all playoffs.”
bcyrgalis@nypost.com
John Tortorella, Tortorella, Tortorella, Eastern Conference, the Devils, Rangers, Derek Stepan, Henrik Lundqvist, Eastern Conference
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