It’s a New Year. But apparently, it’s the same script for the Rangers when they play at MSG.

Three days after putting together a convincing win over the Panthers at the Winter Classic in Miami, the Rangers dropped another game at home by losing to the Mammoth 3-2 in overtime on Monday night.

Aside from wins over the Canadiens and Flyers in mid-December, they’ve lost five of their last seven home games. They’re now 5-10-4 at MSG, continuing a disturbing trend in a perplexing season that’s seen them play much better on the road with a 15-8-2 record.

Worse than that is the current lineup. Playing without Noah Laba, the bottom six included Justin Dowling and Anton Blidh, who replaced Brett Berard after one game. Icing AHL players at this point of the season is an indictment on the lack of depth, which Chris Drury is responsible for. In a twisted irony, he got an endorsement from Garden CEO James Dolan during a public appearance on The Carton Show yesterday.

“Yes, absolutely…Chris Drury is a winner.”

“He and Mike Sullivan are installing a new culture into that club and that does not happen overnight. I’m being patient.” Mollie Walker of The NY Post.

That culture includes an experienced coach who’s shown no confidence in most of the Rangers’ younger players. What’s the point of recalling Berard if he’s not going to play consistently? How is a 35-year-old veteran [Dowling] the replacement for Laba on the third line? The trio of Blidh, Sam Carrick, and Matt Rempe received more minutes than Dowling, who played a team-low 7:18. Sullivan used Jonny Brodzinski and Taylor Raddysh more regularly.

If you still have faith in Drury to reconstruct a dull roster that he put together, you have to be naive. 2023-24 feels like 10 years ago when in actuality, it was two years ago. It was his doing to dismantle a Presidents’ Trophy winner that reached the Eastern Conference Final into a much worse product that fans are spending more money on to see the Rangers lose.

There isn’t much to say about a roster that’s played more games than anyone else in the division. Like most teams playing the condensed schedule due to the Olympics, they have players out. After being cleared for contact, J.T. Miller is getting closer to returning. Adam Edstrom remains out with another injury for the second straight year. Even though he’s a role player, Edstrom is missed due to his size and speed.

If Miller is activated off the injured reserve for Thursday against the Sabres, it would be a big help to a very thin roster that’s too reliant on three to four established players. If they don’t contribute on the score sheet, there’s little hope of the Rangers being successful. That aside, they’re now closer to the bottom of the standings due to their inconsistency.

In the loss to the Mammoth, they were largely outplayed at even strength by a younger and faster opponent. If not for Adam Fox revitalizing the power play, they would’ve been shut out by Karel Vejmelka, who isn’t even close to an upper echelon starter.

The Rangers were on their heels for most of a scoreless period that was mostly controlled by the Mammoth. It was due to their speed and aggressive play attacking the net that led to Igor Shesterkin getting hurt at the 13-minute mark. After he kicked out a Dylan Guenther shot, Shesterkin tried to avoid J.J. Peterka, who was searching for the rebound. There was very little contact, but when he fell backward, Shesterkin landed wrong on his right leg and was in a lot of pain.

After he was helped off the ice, Shesterkin was replaced by Jonathan Quick. To his credit, he came in cold and stopped Peterka on an odd man rush. It looks like he’ll be playing a lot more with the Rangers putting Shesterkin on the IR due to the right leg injury he sustained. They can term it lower-body, but that’s dishonest and insults fans’ intelligence. Hopefully, it isn’t the worst-case scenario.

With Shesterkin out for the foreseeable future, the team sent back Berard (again) and called up Spencer Martin. Martin was signed as insurance due to the organization not trusting Dylan Garand. What else is new? They are afraid to start him. Other teams wouldn’t hesitate to give a prospect a spot start to see what they’re capable of.

At least the Rangers showed some life in a more inspired second period. Buoyed by a power play that went 2-for-2, Alexis Lafreniere tipped home a Mika Zibanejad pass to give him four points in the last two games. He’s been playing better lately. For Lafreniere, it’s all about producing consistently. We’ll see if he can put together a stronger second half.

A turnover from Artemi Panarin allowed Guenther to come in and put in his own rebound to tie the score.

But with the Mammoth taking two penalties to put the Rangers on a full two-minute 5-on-3, Vincent Trocheck redirected a Panarin shot for the second power-play goal of the period. Zibanejad added a secondary assist for his second helper.

In a lackluster third, Michael Carcone blew right around Urho Vaakanainen to get the equalizer. Vaakanainen was back in the lineup for Matthew Robertson, who played close to 22 minutes on Jan. 2. The decision to play Vaakanainen for the first time since Dec. 21 was a head scratcher. He doesn’t defend well enough or finish checks. At the very least, Robertson would’ve taken the body on Carcone.

Quick made a few good stops to take it to overtime. He didn’t have much chance on the winner scored by Sean Durzi, who was left alone to tip in a Nick Schmaltz feed at 1:06.

There isn’t much else to say. The Mammoth were too fast and swept the season series. Aside from the power play connecting twice, the only other cause for excitement was Quick standing up for himself after Daniil But banged into him for goalie interference two minutes into the second.

Why should Quick have more intensity than most of the roster? Rempe can’t fight due to the surgery he had on his thumb. Carrick is the only player who ever makes it his business to do anything.

Not only is this team unexciting to watch, but they’ve made fans apathetic. In many ways, due to the roster Drury constructed, there isn’t a cause for excitement when they play. It’s eerily similar to what’s going on across the Hudson, which Hasan detailed in his post earlier today.

Related: Devils’ Season Comes To A Head As Luke’s Mistakes And The Fans’ Booing Become The Flashpoint For A Franchise In Crisis

As I was finishing this up, Fox has another injury. He was placed on LTIR again. This time, it’s the ridiculous LBI term they love to use. If this team hadn’t been toast before, they sure are now. There is no reason to even tune in anymore.

I guess all of the complaints over Fox being passed over for Team USA can end. It’s sad that he’s become injury prone because he’s an elite player. What a bummer.

When it rains, it pours. Scott Morrow was recalled to take Fox’s place on the roster.

The Rangers could wind up being the worst team in the East. At the moment, that dubious distinction belongs to the Blue Jackets, who have three less points (43) in three fewer games. Both Toronto and Ottawa enter play with 45 in 41 games.

If they fall apart in January, there’s only one thing left for Drury to do.

“Sell. Mortimer. Sell.”