WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Regardless of past good feelings or preseason expectations, the reality of the situation is that with more than half the season played, the Rangers are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
Thursday night, they lost their second in a row, a 3-1 nail-biter to the Jets at the MTS Centre. Both teams came in tied for the eighth and final playoff spot, and it is now the Rangers (13-11-2) looking up at the Jets (14-11-2) in the standings.
At the opening of this four-game road trip, the Rangers put together a dominating 4-1 win over the Capitals in Washington, and their season seemed to be gaining traction. The team that was two wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup finals last season had won five of six, and went into Buffalo on Tuesday brimming with confidence.
But they laid an egg there, losing 3-1 and getting reamed out by their coach John Tortorella afterward. Then came a spirited practice on Wednesday, followed by an effort last night that created a chorus of Tortorella cat-calls from the Winnipeg faithful.
The Rangers' maligned star forward Marian Gaborik kept up some momentum from a solid first period by getting a nice chance one minute into the second, lifting a backhand from the right post that was stopped by goalie Ondrej Pavelec. The puck came to Ryan McDonagh, who missed the net wide, and then was corralled by Derek Stepan. Circling back to the point, Stepan shot one at the net that was redirected beautifully by Ryan Callahan, tying it 1-1 on Callahan's ninth of the season.
The momentum didn't last all that long, as the Rangers got hemmed in their own zone with just over five minutes remaining in the period and Dustin Byfuglein got off a wrist shot from the point. In front of the net was Antti Miettinen, and the puck bounded off some part of his padded body and passed Henrik Lundqvist inside the right post, making it 2-1.
It was Jets' captain Andrew Ladd who finished off the scoring into the empty net with under a minute remaining.
After playing one of their worst games of the season on Tuesday, this game did not start the way the Rangers would have liked.
Within the first minute, Byfuglien, the Jets' mountainous defenseman, laid an open-ice hit on Stepan, sending the tightly packed sellout crowd into frenzy. Less than a minute later, in an attempt to physically push back, Rangers' defenseman Michael Del Zotto took a cross-checking penalty. Just 12 seconds into the power play, former Ranger Nik Antropov gathered a rebound and backhanded it around Lundqvist to make it 1-0.
With 8:43 remaining in the first, Gaborik had a clean breakaway and put a weak backhand attempt right into the pads of Pavelec. Good news — temporarily — was the fact Gaborik was awarded a penalty shot as a result of taking a hook from Byfgulien. Yet on the free attempt, Gaborik came in slow and the puck bounced on him, dying under Pavelec's glove.
bcyrgalis@nypost.com
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