from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

The last couple of weeks had mirrored October, the Rangers winning steadily on the backs of their goaltenders despite 200-by-85 foot performances that were too often insufficient and uninspiring.

But not this time. Not on Sunday afternoon at the Garden when and where there was neither enough smoke nor enough mirrors to camouflage a presentation against the Penguins that was about 45 minutes shy of satisfactory.

There were too many turnovers and lost battles. There were too many times when the Rangers were a step behind. There wasn’t enough discipline. And on this afternoon, Henrik Lundqvist was unable to pick up the slack.

“It’s the same stuff that’s been giving us fits all year in spurts,” Chris Kreider told The Post after the 5-3 defeat to the Penguins that left the Blueshirts with their first two-game losing streak (0-1-1) since mid-December. “We couldn’t break out of our zone together, couldn’t come through the neutral zone and so we couldn’t get in on our forecheck and establish puck possession.

“When we struggle, more often than not this has been the reason,” said No. 20, who scored his fifth goal in eight games on a first-period power-play deflection to tie the game 1-1. “We can’t be throwing the puck off the glass like we did in Detroit [in Saturday’s 3-2 OT defeat] and chasing the game.

conitnued