This was what the Rangers were supposed to look like.
These were the stretches — and the dominant ones, at that — that they were supposed to produce consistently, with this talent and these expectations.
For most of the third period, the Blueshirts dominated the Sabres.
They outshot them 10-1 at one point. A “Let’s go Rangers” chant even broke out for a team that has been brutal at the Garden this year.
Vincent Trocheck drew a double-minor with just under six minutes left to give them a chance to equalize while down a goal.
But in a fitting turn, Alexis Lafrenière committed a turnover early into the power play and Mattias Samuelsson scored to give the Sabres an insurance tally in the Rangers’ 5-2 loss Thursday.
Their record at the Garden dropped to a shocking 5-11-4.
It marked the Rangers’ sixth loss in their last eight games overall amid a critical stretch ahead of the trade deadline that could determine the direction of the franchise.
And despite an impressive third period when they nearly equalized on numerous occasions, the Blueshirts started life without stars Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Adam Fox — for the foreseeable future — with a loss.
The Rangers haven’t won a home game in regulation since Nov. 24.
They failed to notch a win against a surging team — the Sabres won for the 12th time in 13 games — they’ll need to keep pace with as the playoff picture takes shape down the stretch, too.
If there was a sequence that captured this Rangers season, one where everything that could go wrong at the Garden has gone wrong at the Garden, it’d look like this.
It’d look like Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin firing a shot from the point on the power play and Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick making a pad save. It’d look like that puck then bouncing off Jason Zucker’s leg and floating its way past Quick.
It’d look like the Blueshirts allowing a goal just minutes after finally managing to score one in a venue where, somehow, they just can’t seem to do much of that this year.
The Blueshirts controlled the game early, too.
They produced two scoring opportunities just two minutes into the game off sloppy puck management by the Sabres. But Will Cuylle whiffed on a shot.
Colten Ellis tracked Taylor Raddysh’s deflection in front of the net.
And eventually, at the other end of the ice, Cuylle’s stick broke when he blocked a shot, and Josh Doan ended the sequence by flipping a puck past Quick just 4:07 into the game.
Then the sloppy turnovers started, and their frustration started to boil over in the second period. Trocheck, trailing behind the play, thought there should’ve been a penalty and chucked Josh Norris’ stick toward the Sabres’ bench in frustration.
At the other end of the ice, Bowen Byram dropped the puck back for Alex Tuch, and the Rangers’ deficit swelled to 2-0 when he slipped a puck past Quick.
The Rangers nearly put themselves in position to salvage a point on different occasions.
Mika Zibanejad cut their deficit to 2-1 in the second.
Trocheck drew a four-minute penalty in the Rangers’ corner in the third after pulling them within 3-2.
The gutting turnover followed, and their 20th home game of the season ended with a similar result.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
