Two days after hardly competing in a one-goal loss to the Flames, the Rangers made too many mistakes in a 4-3 defeat to the Maple Leafs at 33rd and 7th. A more rested team playing at home again lost to an opponent who had to travel for the second game of a back-to-back.

This is who they are. A lifeless bunch who, more often than not, leaves fans frustrated due to how disjointed they play. Even with teams that they’re battling with continuing to lose to keep them in the wild card race, the Rangers can’t take advantage. They simply refuse to play the way they’re supposed to at this crucial part of the season.

A boring team that is tough to watch, the Rangers are about as exciting as watching paint dry. They’re the antithesis of last year’s team that never were out of a game. There was no quit in New York. Many fans have mocked that team slogan by changing it to quit in New York. It seems very appropriate.

This has been an embarrassing season for many reasons. They went from being one of the league’s best teams to becoming one of its biggest underachievers. After the Predators, you can put the Rangers right next to them. Despite being given every chance due to mediocre competition, they refuse to win consistently. This is a team that hasn’t won three in a row since Nov. 14-19.

Even with the Islanders passing them in the standings, the Rangers remain two points out of the final wild card. The Canadiens have 74 points with 14 games remaining. Both the Islanders and Rangers have 72. The difference is that the Islanders have two more games left. They are finding ways to win since Brock Nelson was traded to the Avalanche. They’re doing it without Mat Barzal.

Even J.T. Miller has gone ice cold in crunch time. After coming in hot, he has no goals and four assists in the last nine games. Perhaps he’s suffering from a bad case of Rangeritis. Something that seems to spread quickly with this sad sack roster. The energy Miller provided is gone. He isn’t making any difference in the biggest games of the year.

It’s looking more and more likely that the Penguins will have the Rangers first round pick. That was the worst-case scenario when Chris Drury made the deal with the Canucks. They included that first round pick in a separate deal to land Marcus Pettersson. It’s worked out much better for them than the veteran defensemen Drury added. For reasons only known to Peter Laviolette, Calvin de Haan doesn’t play. Carson Soucy made his fifth appearance last night, recording an assist in place of Urho Vaakanainen.

Nothing Laviolette does makes much sense. In many ways, it feels eerily similar to Gerard Gallant in his second year. The magic is gone. Laviolette’s overreliance on the veterans has come at the expense of younger players who hardly see the ice. Juuso Parssinen, Brett Berard, and Brennan Othmann played less than seven minutes.

Othmann returned to the lineup due to Matt Rempe, who was out sick. By continuing to use him sparingly, they’re not helping the development of the former first round pick. He remains without an NHL point while wasting away. They may as well send him back down to Hartford, where he’ll at least receive top minutes.

K’Andre Miller had one of his worst games. He turned pucks over and was victimized on two Leafs goals. Miller finished with a minus-3 rating, an undisciplined penalty for tripping, and a game worst four giveaways. It was about as poorly as he could play. A polarizing player due to his talent, he remains a question mark for the foreseeable future. He hasn’t shown any improvement since putting up a career-high 43 points in 2022-23. A restricted free agent this summer, the Rangers have an interesting decision ahead.

On the Leafs’ first goal scored by John Tavares in transition, Miller got caught pinching in and couldn’t recover in time. Tavares buried a one-timer off a Jake McCabe feed.

Despite failing to score early on Anthony Stolarz, the Rangers finally drew even in the final minute of the opening period. Will Borgen supplied the offense when he took a Carson Soucy pass and fired a shot off the goalpost and in. However, that was short-lived.

Following a Borgen icing, Tavares won a draw back for a Jake McCabe shot that an unmarked Bobby McMann tipped in front past Igor Shesterkin to put the Leafs back ahead with 10 seconds remaining. The culprit was Miller, who failed to pick up McMann. It was inexcusable. That more than anything typifies this team. They give up the most crushing goals, which usually come after they score or in the final minute of a period.

Artemi Panarin again scored to tie the game when he put home a rebound of a Vincent Trocheck shot early in the second period. If anyone deserves some credit for showing up, it’s Panarin. Even in what’s been a down year, he’s been scoring regularly during this tumultuous stretch. Since Mar. 2, he has eight goals and eight assists for 16 points, recording at least a point in every game7 this month for an 11-game point streak. He’s been the only player who’s providing consistent offense.

Less than three minutes later, Tavares scored his second of the game when he rebounded home a deflected McCabe shot for the 1,100th point of his career. Adam Fox stayed with William Nylander while Soucy was occupied with McMann, who got a piece of the McCabe shot that Shesterkin couldn’t control. Will Cuylle didn’t rotate down in time to pick up Tavares. Cuylle has been one of the few bright spots, but he got caught watching on what proved to be the deciding goal.

Over 10 minutes later, with the Rangers still trailing the Leafs by one, Nylander circled around the net and found Matthew Knies open in the slot for his 25th to make it 4-2. On the play, there was a lot of puck watching from the five skaters wearing the  blue jerseys. That included Chris Kreider, who was beaten badly by Knies on the goal.

It’s been a nightmarish season for Kreider. Injuries have limited his effectiveness, which still doesn’t excuse his inconsistency. There have been too many empty nights for Kreider, who likely will be traded in the off-season. He has two years remaining on a contract that pays him a $6.5 million cap hit. He’ll celebrate his 34th birthday at the end of next month. By which time the Rangers will be on the golf course.

In the third period, the Rangers finally got a power play. It was earlier in the game that an incensed Kreider was upset after getting tackled by Leafs pest Simon Benoit. This time, the refs caught Knies for slashing Zac Jones. It didn’t matter. The Leafs won some key faceoffs to kill time. Stolarz only had to come up with a pair of stops on J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad.

By that point, Laviolette had cut down to three lines. His best players couldn’t find a way to beat Stolarz, who finished with 27 saves. Both Fox and Zibanejad came close but drew iron.

With Shesterkin on the bench, a Panarin shot was tipped in by Kreider with under 35 seconds left. It was his first goal in six games, giving him 19 for the season. Somehow, in an off year, his 19 goals rank third on the team, trailing only Panarin (31) and Vincent Trocheck (20). It doesn’t say much for the rest of the roster. At least Cuylle has 18 goals. He should only get better.

What’s Alexis Lafreniere’s excuse? It’s inexplicable how far he’s fallen. Now, the contract extension looks like a massive overpay. It’s absurd that he and Zibanejad have the same number of goals (15) at this point of the season. For all the crap Kreider gets from our fan base, how can anyone excuse Lafreniere or Zibanejad, who’s considered a team leader. He has two goals this month. So much for Mika March. Lafreniere has one goal, which was a gift into an open net. The lack of production has been problematic. With J.T. Miller going ice cold without a goal in nine straight. It’s’s basically Panarin trying to beat opponents by himself.

You get the idea. Anyway, Kreider’s goal came too late. The Leafs closed it out to win for the third straight time and keep pace with the Panthers and Lightning in a tight race for first in the Atlantic Division. Two total points separate first from third.

Somehow, with the Islanders winning in overtime over the Canadiens, the Rangers remain a point out of the second wild card. But they only have 12 games remaining. The Islanders have caught them in the standings and technically are now ahead due to having two games at hand. They’re doing it without Mat Barzal, and after selling off Brock Nelson. Why? Because unlike the Rangers, they have heart.

On Saturday, they’ll honor longtime TV voice Sam Rosen before they take on the Canucks. Rosen has been calling games on MSG Network for 40 years. “This one will last a lifetime!” remains a memorable call when the 1993-94 New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup. It has to pain Rosen to see the state the current team is in. They play without any intensity or passion. It’s a far cry from a year ago when they were a resilient group who played for each other.

Even with more regulation wins, they keep losing games. It won’t matter if that continues. They’re looking at a long off-season. For Rosen, if there isn’t any playoffs, what a sad way to go out.