A night after a frustrating loss at Toronto, the Rangers return to MSG where they’ll host the Oilers. It’s the return of Benoit Pouliot. Pouliot was an integral part of last year’s run. After a slow start, he became a fixture with Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello on the third line. He achieved career bests in assists (21), points (36) and power play goals (7). Pouliot produced five goals and five assists in the postseason.

His combination of size, speed and forechecking was a good fit. He created space for his linemates complementing them. Alain Vigneault used him with success on the second power play unit. Pouliot played a similar role to Chris Kreider screening in front and scoring garbage goals. Last summer, he signed a five-year $20 million contract with Edmonton. He got rewarded.

Similar to last season, he’s off to a slow start. In 14 games, he has only a goal and three assists. After posting a goal and helper in a win over one of his former teams Montreal on 10/27, Pouliot is without a point in four straight and minus-three. With leading scorer Taylor Hall out, he’s getting a chance to play with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle. Neither is ripping it up either. But each is dangerous. If the Rangers play like they did last night, watch out.

Viktor Fasth gets the start over Ben Scrivens, who has a 2-1-0 career record with a 2.00 goals-against-average, .943 save percentage and a shutout against the Rangers. Instead, Fasth will get the chance to face countryman Henrik Lundqvist, who got a rare night off. It’s a struggling backup who gets the call.

Offense hasn’t been the issue for the Rangers, who scored four times last night. It’s the defense. They’ve allowed 11 goals in the last three. In fact, outside of Lundqvist sharing a shutout with Ondrej Pavelec in a shootout loss, they’ve given up three-or-more in four of the last five. Dating back to a 4-3 overtime win at New Jersey, they’ve yielded 21 goals over the last seven. Their record is 3-2-2.

If they don’t clean it up defensively, it won’t matter who’s in net. Granted. Injuries to Ryan McDonagh and Dan Boyle haven’t helped. Neither has the suspension to John Moore, who is eligible to return Tuesday against Pittsburgh. Vigneault has leaned heavily on Dan Girardi and Marc Staal while showing faith in Matt Hunwick, who had his worst showing yesterday. A costly turnover led to Leo Komarov’s winner. A play that saw Carl Hagelin, Dominic Moore and Lee Stempniak fly the zone like they were playing pond hockey.

That kind of lackadaisical defensive play has been a theme. The forwards aren’t doing a good job. Despite getting a bundle of scoring chances with Rick Nash burying his 11th, his line with Brassard and Marty St. Louis was lousy in their end. They didn’t take anyone on a couple of Leafs goals. There also was the dreadful sequence with Zuccarello throwing the puck away that lead to a Peter Holland shorthanded goal. On the play, Zuccarello chased Komarov but Hunwick forgot about Holland leaving him wide open.

There’s been way too much of that. It’s not Rangers hockey. Regardless of who is out, the forwards know better. Vigneault has gotten a lot from Girardi, Staal, Hunwick and Kevin Klein. He also rolled third pair Conor Allen and Mike Kostka, who were victimized on Roman Polak’s tying goal. Once Moore and Boyle return, both are out. Thankfully, it’s coming soon.

With the 6 PM faceoff around the corner, it should be interesting to see how they respond. How long will Vigneault stick with the odd fourth line of Anthony Duclair, Tanner Glass and Kevin Hayes? Is the third line good enough? The bottom six remain in limbo. We’ll have more after the game.