Henrik Lundqvist frustrated the Rangers let this one slip away

WASHINGTON — Henrik Lundqvist, who hasn’t won a game since his 50-save, 3-1 birthday victory in Calgary on March 2, emitted raw emotion following Wednesday’s 3-2 overtime defeat to the Capitals as if it had been a playoff game, not the first the goaltender has ever played with his team officially eliminated from the tournament.

“It’s so frustrating,” said the goaltender, beaten 38 seconds into OT by Evgeny Kuznetsov after Lars Ellar had tied it on a six-on-five with 1:05 remaining in regulation. “It doesn’t matter where you are in the standings. You want to win games. You want to win.

“We worked so hard, all of us. As good as we were on the penalty kill to keep us in the game, to give up that look five-on-six, it was too easy. Too easy.”

It was easy for Eller, who was alone in front to convert Nicklas Backstrom’s centering feed after winning a battle with Neal Pionk, who fell to the ice behind the Caps’ center.

“I was trying to take the backdoor away,” Pionk, who had an eventful time of it matched against Alex Ovechkin at even strength and on the power play for the second time in three nights, told The Post. “I didn’t realize [Jesper] Fast was there.

“The goal is all on me. It was my fault.”

Head coach Alain Vigneault charged, and with good reason, that the Caps should have been called for a too-many-men penalty while pulling Brayden Holtby with about 1:35 remaining in the third.

“To me, it was an easy call to make because the guy who came on for Holtby when he was about 10 feet away touched the puck,” Vigneault said. “It was an easy call to make and they didn’t make it.”

Kevin Hayes scored on the power play, his 22nd on the season, to give the Blueshirts a 1-0 lead at 12:42 of the first. After Lundqvist stopped Kuznetsov on a penalty shot at 13:25, Andre Burakovsky tied it at 19:37. Ryan Spooner sniped off a right wing rush on a Lias Andersson headman feed for his first goal in nine games to give the Blueshirts a 2-1 edge at 10:35 of the third.

Assistant coach Lindy Ruff sustained a concussion prior to practice getting underway Tuesday at the training facility when he hit his head on the ice after either stepping on a puck or getting hit with one. Ruff, who needed stitches to close a head wound, thus did not travel here with the club.

Associate coach Scott Arniel took over Ruff’s duties running the defense, while Darryl Williams moved from the press box to a spot behind the bench. Wolf Pack assistant Pat Boller assumed Williams’ responsibilities. Vigneault said that expects Ruff will be able to rejoin the team for Friday’s Garden finale against Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi, J.T. Miller and the Lightning.