The Rangers’ Manifest Destiny never came close to fruition. The team that not only waited all season for the playoffs but told you so from the start of training camp, won three postseason games, seven fewer than last season when the Cinderella Blueshirts went to the conference finals.

This time around, the team loaded with marquee stars could not get out of the first round. If this 107-point season was not a colossal waste, it surely ended in colossal disappointment. The team across the River stole the Blueshirts’ destiny.

The Devils, who had missed the playoffs nine times in the previous 10 years and missed the cutline by 37 points last year, were in total control of this Game 7, winning by a 4-0 score that actually flattered the Blueshirts.

Total Control by the team that played Total Hockey and now prepare to face Carolina in the conference semifinals while the Rangers prepare for breakup day.

It will be instructive to see whether Gerard Gallant — whose .662 points percentage in going 99-46-19 is the best in franchise history among coaches with at least 100 games as the bench boss — will conduct his postseason press briefing.

There are exceptions, of course, and John Tortorella in 2013 is one of them, but coaches generally do not speak for the organization if they are about to be former employees.

It is almost a certainty that there will be organizational consequences in the offseason. A team that was built to win now — and was then fortified by headline additions leading up to the deadline — lost four of its last five games after taking a 2-0 lead in the series with identical 5-1 victories at the Rock.

All that talent, all that jazz … it meant nothing in the end. The trade for Vlad Tarasenko in early February followed by the acrobatics necessary to acquire Patrick Kane at the midnight hour, they meant nothing in the end that came when the Rangers scored a sum of two goals in their four defeats and none in their twin 4-0 losses in Games 5 and 7 at the Rock.

“Talent doesn’t mean a thing,” Gallant said in what might have been a critique of the structure of his team. “It’s great to have talent, but you’ve got to play together and work together. Obviously, the four games that we lost, we had two goals. That’s the bottom line. You’re not going to win if you get two goals in four games.

“I love to have talent, but you love to have work ethic and more forecheck and stuff like that. We just didn’t get it done.”

The Rangers had all sorts of issues getting out of their own end. The Rangers had all sorts of issues pinning the Devils in their end. A fast team was made to look slow. A buttoned-down squad was picked apart. A poised team came undone.

That is on the players, nearly all of whom had substandard series. But responsibility falls on the coaching staff as well. The Devils improved by leaps and bounds during the series. The Rangers — other than in Saturday’s 5-2 revival in staving off Game 6 elimination at the Garden — steadily deteriorated.

Igor Shesterkin had a remarkable series. Chris Kreider did what he does, which is to score goals in the playoffs more often that any Ranger in franchise history, six of them in this round. But he also had a dreadful Game 7 and blamed himself for the defeat after a minus-four performance and committed the final turnover that led to Michael McLeod’s shorthanded goal that opened the scoring at 9:53 of the second period.

“I’m one of the veteran leaders, I’m one of the guys who should have set the example and instead I’m on for all four goals against,” Kreider told The Post. “That cannot happen and especially in Game 7.

“It was shameful.”

Artemi Panarin did not score a goal in the series. Mika Zibanejad, who did not have a five-on-five shot in this one, scored once. Adam Fox wore down as the series progressed. Kane scored one goal and was unable to make an impact other than in Game 2. The vaunted power play failed on three first-period opportunities Monday before surrendering the shortie.

The Kids did not come close to replicating their performance from a year ago. Alexis Lafreniere did not have a point. Filip Chytil scored one goal, an empty-netter in Game 1. Kaapo Kakko scored once, the final goal of the 5-1 victory in Game 2.

Get the trend?

The Rangers have had it pretty good most of the last two years. They’re an entertaining regular-season team with marquee stars and that should not be discounted when season subscribers are paying for 41 home games plus three exhibitions. .

Of course, generations of fans who have celebrated one Stanley Cup over the last 83 years and are back on a 29-year drought, have every right to ask for more than this. The Rangers had an obligation to ask for more than this of themselves.

The team that waited all season to get back to this spot is out after 14 days and seven games. The waiting begins anew.

It is going to be a long and fitful offseason.