It was a short tapper into an empty net, the equivalent of a gimme putt in golf. But it allowed Ryan Callahan to smile — and even to poke fun at himself. “It was good to get that last one,” Callahan said after sealing the Rangers’ 3-0 Game 3 victory with an empty-net goal with 2:13 remaining. “Now I just have to try to do it with a goalie in there.”

Marian Gaborik boasts the highest salary-cap hit on the Rangers at $7.5 million per season, but bloated bank accounts don’t make anyone on John Tortorella’s team exempt from having their playing time slashed for costly mistakes.

The Rangers have won the opening game in each of their first three playoff rounds. Of course, against Ottawa and Washington, they dropped the subsequent game on home ice each time, and that is a trend they hope to buck Wednesday in Game 2 against the Devils.

It might now quite be the acquisition of Manhattan by Dutch settlers for $24, but the Rangers’ trade for defenseman Ryan McDonagh is starting to look as if it will go down as one of the better deals in New York history.

Mike Rupp was in his first season with the Devils in 2003 — the one that ended with him scoring the Stanley Cup-winning goal — when he realized the extent of the rivalry with the Rangers.

Dan Girardi hardly is the most second-guessed New York sports figure with that surname. The Yankees’ manager surely can attest to that.

Stephane Matteau usually is greeted by fans of the Rangers precisely as you’d expect him to be, causing him to jokingly ask if they even know his first name.

Carl Hagelin knows the score, which means he knows that the Rangers are still hopeful he’ll do that eventually.But the rookie first-line winger has continued to affect games despite netting zero goals.

Marc Staal called it “a play every kid dreams about growing up,” and his center stage moment Monday night only was made sweeter by the obstacles he had overcome the past year.

For the second consecutive series against the lowest remaining seed in the Eastern Conference, the Rangers are down to a best-of-three against the Capitals after each won a game in the other’s arena.