A day following a nice win in Boston, the Rangers reverted to usual form in an uncompetitive 4-1 loss to the Lightning at Madison Square Garden. The final score wasn’t indicative of how lopsided the latest home disappointment was in front of angry fans who booed them off the ice.

“We got outcompeted from the drop of the puck,” Mike Sullivan said after the Rangers were outshot 34-13 by the much faster Lightning, who made it look easy skating without Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak, and Brayden Point.

“We knew the type of game it was gonna be. They got hard skill. They compete, and they skate, and that was the kind of game that it was gonna be. I don’t think we had the wherewithal to match the intensity. I just felt like we lost puck battles all over the rink.”

Even with having Will Borgen back in the lineup after missing the last five games, the Rangers were a mess in their end. They continually got beaten to pucks and outskated by the much faster Lightning. It didn’t take long for them to pile up shots on Igor Shesterkin, who was the only reason the final score wasn’t much worse.

Even the Lightning’s fourth line outworked the Rangers, who looked asleep playing for the second straight day. Shesterkin had to fight off a pair of Zemgus Girgensons’ shots before Pontus Holmberg had his shot at open net get blocked by Carson Soucy at the last split second.

Eventually, Brandon Hagel had his wide shot take a bounce off Soucy and in to give the Lightning the lead. Despite getting outshot 11-2, the Rangers only trailed by a goal after the period.

Although they had more shots in the second period, it wasn’t any better. They allowed the Lightning too much room to create chances both in transition and on the cycle. On one forecheck, Hagel had a shot go off the goalpost.

Despite getting outplayed, the Rangers nearly tied it while killing a Matthew Robertson penalty. Taylor Raddysh stole the puck and came in on Jonas Johansson, who made the key stop to deny his shorthanded bid.

After killing off the penalty, they didn’t establish much. Instead, Alexis Lafreniere was caught deep after a Darren Raddysh rim around led directly to Tampa Bay going up by two. Nikita Kucherov sent Hagel past Borgen for a breakaway. One on one with Shesterkin, who denied his first shot with a good pad save, Hagel was able to put in the rebound.

While the Rangers were limited to the outside, hardly mustering any sustained attack or shots, the Lightning continued to use their speed to their advantage. They generated higher quality chances, which forced Shesterkin into difficult saves. That included a pair on Anthony Cirelli and later on Hagel, who was far and away the best player.

With the game still only 2-0, Adam Fox set up J.T. Miller for his seventh on the doorstep to make it a one-goal game with 2:29 left. Lafreniere moved the puck up to Mika Zibanejad, who passed it over to Fox. He then skated into the slot and hit Miller directly in front to make it 2-1.

However, Shesterkin took an undisciplined penalty by taking down Hagel to put the Lightning on a power play with less than 20 seconds remaining in the second. The penalty carried over to the final period.

Even though Shesterkin made a couple of good saves to help the Rangers kill it off, they let him down again by allowing a momentum crushing third goal to the Bolts in transition.

After they gained the zone, Charle-Edouoard D’Astous moved the puck down low for Kucherov, who was clearly looking to pass in front for Nick Paul. Soucy made the mistake of vacating the net front to go after Kucherov. But he had too much room and quickly sent a pass for an easy Paul finish. Vladislav Gavrikov was too late on the switch due to Soucy’s failure to communicate sooner.

Things only got worse for the Rangers, who lost Fox to an upper-body injury. On a play behind the net, Fox took a hard hit from Hagel that saw him favor his left arm coming off the ice. It went into the back boards awkwardly with 12:57 left. He exited the game immediately.

Afterward, Sullivan didn’t have an update yet. They’ll have to further evaluate Fox over the next two days to determine the injury. If it’s serious, it would be a big blow to the Rangers, who can ill afford to lose their best defenseman for any amount of significant time. Lately, Fox has been on a roll, extending his point streak to six straight with his 10th assist over that span. 

Without him, the Rangers lack any other defenseman who can supply offense. Fox does it all, including as a quarterback of the power play. When they had 5-on-4 advantage later in the period, Sullivan went with five forwards. Will Cuylle joined the number one unit that features Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Miller, and Vincent Trocheck.

After Miller just missed in front, Sullivan took a timeout to rest his big unit. Following Cuylle getting stopped by Johansson, Miller again had an attempt go wide. It was a frustrating day at MSG with the crowd letting them hear it.

The Lightning continued to spend time in the Rangers’ end, further killing the clock.

Eventually, Sullivan lifted Shesterkin to go for a 6-on-5. Without Fox, he went with his top six forwards. Lafreniere joined Panarin, Trocheck, Miller, Zibanejad, and Cuylle. As time wound down, Zibanejad went wide on a one-timer that at least could’ve made for an interesting conclusion.

Instead, Jake Guentzel scored into an open net to seal the Rangers’ fate. When it was mercifully over, they heard more boos as they lost on home ice for a league worst eighth time in regulation. They’re 2-8-1 in 11 games at MSG, turning it into a home disadvantage.

Zibanejad spoke later about them needing to have more swagger to turn it into a tough building for opponents to play in. Right now, it’s a walk in the park for foes.

Astonishingly, the Rangers have only earned five of a possible 22 points on home ice. That pitiful record has them in seventh place in the division with 28 points in 27 games. They’ve played the most games so far. What that means is that they’re going to dig themselves into a deeper hole if the teams in front of them win games.

Even worse, they have to host the Stars on Tuesday, probably without Fox. That could be a nightmare. It doesn’t inspire much confidence.