Regards to B’way

McD takes final Ranger bow

VANCOUVER — The now-former Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said goodbye to New York while reflecting on his time on Broadway in an article for the Players’ Tribune.

McDonagh wrote about his reaction to being traded in a mega-deal at Monday’s deadline to the Lightning, the feeling of being captain, his overtime goal in the second round of the 2015 playoffs to stave off elimination and the moment he first felt like a New Yorker.

“My wife and I loved every second of our time in New York City,” McDonagh wrote. “Our daughter, Falan, was born here in 2016, so the city will always be a huge part of our family’s story. Unfortunately, it’s time to say goodbye. I knew that a trade was a strong possibility, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less to leave. The feeling of standing in the locker room at MSG right before warmups, with all my gear on, and pulling my blue sweater off the hanger … it was an indescribable honor.

“And then to actually see the C stitched on that blue sweater … what can I say? There are no words. How many players get the opportunity to wear the C for an Original Six team in the NHL? I will cherish the opportunity forever.”

Nearly three years after McDonagh’s goal kept the Rangers alive in Game 5 of the second round against Washington, he still doesn’t understand why friend and former teammate Derek Stepan — part of Phase I of the purge when traded to Arizona last summer — passed him the puck.

“He teed me up perfectly, like we were just goofing around after practice at Wisconsin,” said McDonagh, who played with Stepan collegiately. “Usually the game moves so fast in the NHL that everything is a blur, but that puck floated out to me in slow motion, like in a dream. I was so stunned that he passed it that all I could do was just shoot it as hard as I could. Didn’t look. Didn’t aim. Just

fired it. I didn’t even see it go in. I just heard the Garden erupt.

“I’ll never forget that goal for the rest of my life.

“I’ll never forget what an honor it was to play for the New York Rangers. “I’ll never forget the friends I made here.” McDonagh also told the story of when he, Stepan and Marc Staal were nearly late for a meeting at the Garden the day the Rangers were playing the Devils in Game 5 of the 2012 conference final because of traffic coming down from the Upper West Side.

They were considering abandoning the car before team employee Alex Case told them to get on the West Side Highway. McDonagh, in his first NHL season, thought about the potential wrath of John Tortorella.

“We crawled over to the West Side Highway and then the traffic finally opened up. We got to the Garden, hopped out, sprinted to the elevator, and made it to the locker room five minutes before the meeting,” McDonagh wrote. “I don’t even know if Torts ever found out.”