Never much of a fun day for anyone when it’s time to pack up the rink for the summer, particularly for the Rangers having to do it the day before 16 other teams are starting a postseason these Blueshirts thought they would be a part of (instead, they got the 10th pick in the draft lottery tonight, no movement up or down). Nevertheless, the players all came through for exit interviews with coach and media today, and unfortunately I can only provide quotes from the latter.

But the main event turned out to be John Tortorella, who sat down and chatted candidly with a room full of hockey writers for 48 minutes that were in the same vein as the hourlong interview he gave the day before training camp opened. (In a way, Tortorella was to the media the way his team was to hockey this season: surprising start, surprising finish, but all that stuff in between…)

As expected, the Rangers will be without Ryan Callahan this afternoon for their all-or-nothing showdown with the Flyers here at Wachovia Center. But they will have Brian Boyle back after the big center missed nine games with an ankle injury.

Boyle hasn’t played since the March 21 loss in Boston (yep, the one that seemed like a death knell for the Rangers’ season); his last point was an assist on Jan. 19 against Tampa Bay. He’s certain to be moved to the wing tonight so as not to upset the chemistry the Rangers have found up and down their lineup over this 7-1-1 stretch that has brought them to this point.

Here’s how the lines should look to start:

Dubinsky-Christensen-Gaborik
Prospal-Jokinen-Parenteau
Shelley-Anisimov-Prust
Voros-Drury-Boyle

Staal-Rozsival
Del Zotto-Girardi
Redden-Eriksson

The challenge there is to get Drury involved by working him into other lines here and there, because Voros and Boyle are unlikely to see the minutes of the other forwards.

It comes down to Game 82, and the Rangers may have to go down to Philadelphia with Ryan Callahan out of their arsenal. The winger aggravated the injury to his left knee and left tonight’s game during the second period when he crunched Chris Pronger into the back glass and felt the knee give out a little.

Callahan has been playing through pain for three games now, and after this one, he was a walking example of why he was presented before the game with the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, an honor Ranger fans have bestowed on him for two years running. Still, he wasn’t a very happy one, because he was hobbling out of the Garden wearing a large brace over his suit that will keep his knee joint near-immobile, and may keep Callahan out of Sunday’s winner-take-all in Philadelphia.

With the Bruins taking care of business last night against Buffalo, that lone backdoor the Rangers would have to get into the playoffs over Boston closed to just a sliver of daylight. If the Bruins manage to drop their last two games in regulation, and the Rangers get only three points out of the home-and-home with Philly that starts tonight at the Garden, the Rangers sneak in; anything less and they’re done.

So if you didn’t know already, tonight is do-or-die for the Rangers, and over in the Flyers’ dressing room, they are approaching this home-and-home opener the same way.

“We’re not looking at Sunday’s game at all, we’re taking the mindset that this is a must-win game for us right now,” Ranger-turned-Flyer center Blair Betts said following the Flyers’ morning skate at the Garden. “We don’t want to take our chances with Sunday - one game, anything can happen, a couple bad bounces, something like that. We’re looking at it right now as do-or-die tonight.

“That’s kind of the mentality we had against Toronto the other night and it worked out well for us.”