To a man, they weren’t good enough. Despite some more heroics from Igor Shesterkin, the Rangers got what they deserved on Tuesday night. Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal at 1:12 of overtime to give the Panthers a 3-2 win in Game 4.

The series is now tied 2-2 with a pivotal Game 5 on Thursday back at Madison Square Garden. If they’re to have a realistic chance at winning the biggest game of the season, then the Rangers need to play a lot better.

For at least a period, they had the better of the play. For the first time in the Eastern Conference Final, the Rangers scored on the power play. Vincent Trocheck converted an Artemi Panarin pass from the slot to beat Sergei Bobrovsky up high at 8:51.

Shesterkin made four saves on a prior Panthers power play. His best came on Matthew Tkachuk. There were no rebounds. Florida found it tough to beat him. They also weren’t as sharp in the first period.

Instead, it was the Rangers who got the better chances. On another power play with Brandon Montour off for cross-checking Trocheck, they did everything but score. The puck moved so quickly that it felt like they’d score and take a two-goal lead.

Mika Zibanejad was all set up from the left circle. But his shot went off Bobrovsky and hit the crossbar. He was that close to finally getting his first goal of the series. That would come back to haunt him.

Despite outplaying and outshooting the Cats 13-11, the Rangers only led by a goal after one period. It was their best period of the series. They never came close to matching it the rest of the game.

Almost immediately, the Panthers flipped the switch in what was a dominant second period. The Rangers couldn’t complete passes and hardly had the puck. If it weren’t for Shesterkin making ridiculous saves, including a sliding stop to rob Carter Verhaeghe, the score would’ve been lopsided.

On a puck battle behind his net, Ryan Lindgren was called for a soft holding minor on Aleksander Barkov, who went down rather easily. For a superstar, he sure does that a lot to get calls. Technically, it was a penalty. The way the game was officiated is what made it frustrating.

After the power play expired, Sam Bennett was able to tie the score when he banked in a loose puck off Shesterkin. An aggressive Bobrovsky made a smart play by getting the puck up ice for Gustav Forsling. His shot handcuffed Shesterkin, who gave up a rebound. With K’Andre Miller scrambling in front, Bennett wisely put the puck in off Shesterkin, who didn’t have his near goalpost covered.

Things took a turn for the worse when Barclay Goodrow accidentally cleared the puck over the glass for a delay of game minor. On another power play, the Panthers got a nice bounce to take the lead.

Barkov moved the puck down los for Tkachuk. His pass for a Verhaeghe tip-in was stopped by Shesterkin. But the puck took a hop off both Shesterkin and Lindgren, and Verhaeghe batted a backhand out of midair to give the Panthers the lead with 7:44 remaining.

Despite owning the puck and holding a 14-5 edge in shots, the Panthers got two fluke goals to surge ahead. They weren’t beating Shesterkin clean. He’s been stopping everything. Their best chance is by crowding the net and getting puck luck. The strategy paid off.

With Forsling in the box for tripping Chris Kreider, the Rangers failed to capitalize on the man advantage. It was exasperating watching Zibanejad. His failure to make the right play with the puck is really hurting the team. He had a very bad night.

The one player who continues to make things happen is Alexis Lafreniere. For reasons known to only Peter Laviolette, he refuses to give him more ice time. Even if it means removing the slumping Zibanejad off the top unit in favor of Lafreniere, you ride the hot hand. Lafreniere deserved to be double shifted.

For too long in the second, Laviolette overplayed his top guys. That meant hardly any shifts for Goodrow, who’s only been one of their best players. Blake Wheeler and Matt Rempe hardly saw the ice due to special teams. But Laviolette shortchanged them despite both bringing energy. Something Zibanejad and Kreider rarely did.

The play of the bottom six was more noticeable. Alex Wennberg was good defensively under duress. Kaapo Kakko and Will Cuylle gave good efforts. But there wasn’t enough ice time for either. Even Lafreniere didn’t play enough through two periods.

In the third period, Lafreniere stayed hot to tie the score at 3:28. Following a Panarin pass over for Adam Fox, he made a great spin move and wheeled a backhand towards the net that Lafreniere got a piece of to score his third goal in the last two games. If that was a pass, it was an incredible play by Fox. He had two assists and looked like more of a threat.

Instead of gaining some momentum from Lafreniere’s latest goal, the Rangers let the Panthers smother them. Almost the remainder of the period was played in their end. It was absurd.

They relied on Shesterkin to make countless saves. He made 13 more stops to keep Florida off the scoreboard.

It wasn’t until Laviolette had Rempe back out late that something happened. On a play in transition, Rempe had Trocheck open in front. His soft pass for Trocheck took a tricky deflection that Bobrovsky made a good save on. He played better, making key stops in the first when the Rangers could’ve led by more.

Once again, the game went to overtime. Unlike the last two, it didn’t last long. On what was a lousy decision by Zibanejad, he tried a low percentage pass for Wheeler inside the Panthers’ blue line. Instead of shooting the puck, his brutal pass was taken away by Barkov, who broke in and forced Wheeler to hook him from behind.

In all honesty, it should’ve been a penalty shot. Had it been, I would’ve been more comfortable having Shesterkin face Barkov one on one. The Panthers went on another power play. It didn’t take long.

On a Montour pass down low for Barkov, he centered the puck for Reinhart, who buried a one-timer past Shesterkin to give the Panthers the win.

So. It’s now all about Game 5. The Panthers basically scored every goal on the power play. Bennett’s goal came three seconds after it expired. They did the same thing to win Game 1.

For as dominant as they’ve been at 5-on-5, they haven’t scored much there. Shesterkin hasn’t allowed them to. He’s trying to carry the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals. He can’t do it alone.

At some point, Zibanejad and Kreider must contribute. They can’t be as bad as they’ve been. Neither has a single point. Zibanejad’s ridiculous play cost the Rangers the game. It was a terrible read that he couldn’t make at that crucial point.

Panarin picked up two assists. But he was limited to one shot. He has no goals against the Panthers, either. His reputation is on the line. They need him to score in the next game.

It doesn’t matter who Laviolette plays in Game 5. Whether it’s Filip Chytil back in for Wheeler, who was blameless for what happened, they’re not the difference makers. That’s Zibanejad, Kreider, and Panarin.

The Rangers won’t win unless that changes.