At almost the All-Star break, the New York Rangers are continuing to struggle mightily. A big reason for a poor stretch that’s lasted seven weeks is the inconsistent play of Igor Shesterkin.

The former 2021-22 Vezina winner is a shell of himself. He barely looks recognizable in the net. Even when the team was winning games, Shesterkin was underperforming. At least there were some games when he made the key saves.

Whatever is going on, it needs to stop. The 28-year-old starting goalie has continued to allow soft goals during a disappointing season. Facing the Vegas Golden Knights for a second time in eight days, Shesterkin has given up at least four goals in lopsided defeats. On Jan. 18, he let in four goals on 25 shots in a 5-1 loss. It wasn’t any better on Friday night. He gave up four goals on 19 shots in a 5-2 defeat at home.

After a Blake Wheeler goal had the Rangers tied after one period, Shesterkin proceeded to allow consecutive goals to Keegan Kolesar and Jonathan Marchessault over a 46-second span to put the Blueshirts in a two-goal hole early in the second period.

While mistakes were made by his teammates, Shesterkin is the last line of defense. He’s expected to make the big stops at critical moments. Instead, he gave up a bad goal to Kolesar that went through him. Following a turnover by Artemi Panarin inside the Rangers’ blue line, Kolesar skated in and beat Shesterkin with a wrist shot over the glove.

Kolesar isn’t exactly known as a goal scorer. You’d never know it by how he’s done against the Rangers. In two games this season, he’s beaten Shesterkin twice in Vegas wins. Kolesar has only scored four goals in 2023-24. Half have come at the expense of the Rangers’ netminder.

It was back in the first period that another Knights’ source of offense was unexpected. A Paul Cotter shot banked off Sheldon Rempal to give Vegas an early 1-0 lead. On that one, Shesterkin gets a pass due to the puck deflecting off of Rempal in front. He beat Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider, who’s another player that hasn’t had a good season.

Following Kolesar beating him on a breakaway, Marchessault was able to tip in an Ivan Barbashev shot that put the Golden Knights ahead 3-1 with under 16 minutes to go in the second period. That goal really deflated the fans at Madison Square Garden. There was little energy in the building.

Making matters worse, the Rangers had a lot of one and done in the second period. After they outplayed the Knights in the first period by holding a 15-6 edge in shots, they were unable to match that effort. Instead, they took a couple of penalties. Even though the Knights’ power play struggled, it took time off the clock.

When they created a good scoring chance, Adin Hill was there to make the big save. He denied Alexis Lafreniere on a backhand one on one. The slumping forward could only shake his head in frustration. Lafreniere has one goal over his last 15 games. It’s not going in for him.

He gets opportunities almost every game. At some point, he needs to bury one to turn his season around. He has 11 goals in 48 games. That’s hardly enough production for a player who’s been featured on the Rangers’ best scoring line with Panarin and Vincent Trocheck. They need more from the former 2020 top pick.

Early in the third period, the Knights put the game away. Following Shesterkin giving up a rebound of a Barbashev shot, Marchessault beat K’Andre Miller to sweep the puck in for his second of the game at 2:11. Miller got caught watching on the play. It was another glaring example of poor coverage from the slumping defenseman. He’s had a miserable January.

With the game over, Kaapo Kakko scored his fourth to cut the deficit to 4-2 with 1:06 left. It was too little, too late. Marchessault completed the hat trick by scoring into a vacated net with 30 seconds remaining.

Somehow, the Rangers have reverted into the mess they were last season. They don’t defend well enough and aren’t getting good goaltending from Shesterkin. They struggle to score at even strength. In the playoffs, 5-on-5 is where most of the play will be. They’re lucky the Hurricanes and Flyers aren’t playing well. Otherwise, they’d be looking up in the Metropolitan Division standings.

It’s nice that Wheeler scored a goal. But when is Mika Zibanejad going to do something? He’s the key to the top line. Fifteen goals in 47 games don’t cut it. Neither does seven even strength goals. There are too many key players who are underachieving. Both Zibanejad and Shesterkin top the list.

At least they can’t blame Nick Bonino. With one more game versus the Ottawa Senators tomorrow night, the Rangers have a chance to at least finish this month on a better note. Given how Brady Tkachuk has dominated them, I wouldn’t put any money on it.

At the very least, Shesterkin should have Saturday off. Jonathan Quick will likely get the start. Maybe he gives the Rangers the best chance right now. It’s a pretty humbling thought at this juncture.