Rangers take another step back with ugly early performance

ST. PAUL, Minn. — In the many ways this could be interpreted inside and outside the Rangers dressing room, the fact is their bad hit a low far deeper than the height of their good. And despite the fact that the good lasted a lot longer, that is almost always an equation for a result like this.

In the end, it was just another loss in a season of self-inflicted wounds, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Wild here on Tuesday night that was defined by a stretch of just over three minutes in the first period that was as bad as any the Blueshirts have played all season.

“It was a turnover-fest, and that’s why we lost this game,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who was moments away from getting pulled after he allowed three goals on the first eight shots in the opening 6:17 of play, all three goals coming in a span of 3:08. “It’s too bad, we played really well after we settled down. But that start cost us, big time. We gave them every goal.”

That is what matters in the takeaway for the Rangers (27-25-5), who are still entertaining the idea of making the playoffs as everyone waits with bated breath while the publicly decreed selloff begins sometime in the lead-up to the Feb. 26 trade deadline. The market is already beginning to move, and the mood in the locker room might change when a couple of key pieces are exchanged for future assets.

But since that announcement from team president Glen Sather and general manager Jeff Gorton on Thursday, the Rangers have un- surprisingly shown a renewed onice vigor. Still, they are a team that has a penchant for turning the puck over, and opposition like the Wild (31-19-6) are unlikely to allow such ghastly mistakes to go unpunished.

“We beat ourselves, and it happens sometimes,” said Lundqvist, who stopped all 16 shots he faced over the final two periods, his team having a real chance once Kevin Hayes made it 3-2 at 11:46 of the second period. But they generated only four shots in the third, and couldn’t beat goalie Devan Dubnyk when it mattered most.

“It’s tough, especially the way we played the last 45-50 minutes, that’s the way we need to start,” Lundqvist said. “It’s on all of us. Me not coming up with the extra save. I think everybody just feels like we’re not where we’re supposed to be when we give up the puck. Same thing for me, I’m not where I should be in that situation.”

As pointed out by coach Alain Vigneault, the first three minutes of the game actually weren’t that bad. But when Nick Holden turned it over at the center line, it resulted in Eric Staal scoring on an odd-man rush, the first shot of the game going in at 3:09 — the 13th time this season Lundqvist has given up a goal on one of a game’s first three shots. Then it was Rick Nash making what has to be one of the worst mistakes of his career, trying a cross-ice pass from just in front of his net that deflected off Zach Parise’s stick and then just between the post and Lundqvist’s skate to make it 2-0 at 4:34.

“It’s my mistake,” Nash said. “I have to be better there.”

Then Brady Skjei skated right over a puck in his own zone and Marcus Foligno was afforded a second opportunity that he buried at 6:17, causing near panic on the Rangers bench.

Vigneault had rookie backup Alexandar Georgiev put his helmet on and start stretching, readying to come in for his NHL debut as a mid-game replacement. But the decision was halted when Nino Niederreiter took a delay-of-game penalty, and then John Gilmour scored his first NHL goal on the power play at 8:50 to cut the deficit to 3-1 and giving the Rangers some life. No matter, it still wasn’t enough. “You can’t win the game in the first period, or the first 40 [minutes],” Lundqvist said. “But you can definitely lose it.”