It is not even the winter solstice and the Rangers are in a state of emergency. The SOS is sounding loud and clear from Manhattan Island. Only there seems to be no one in sight with the capability of responding to the distress signals that grow more urgent by the day.
Not even Henrik Lundqvist, who of all people has somehow become one of the root problems of his team’s ills rather than the solution he has been from Day One of his career back in 2005.
Understand this: whether anyone especially approves of the way this team was constructed by Glen Sather (Anyone? Anyone?), the general manager had no reason not to believe the Rangers would continue to get the same elite goaltending to which they had become accustomed over the last eight seasons.
John Tortorella was the beneficiary of elite goaltending almost every night of his tour of duty behind the Blueshirts bench that papered over many of the holes in his teams. Alain Vigneault has not been so fortunate.
The team’s very underpinning is in doubt. Its foundation has been shaken to the core.
It was 4-2 for the Blue Jackets over the Rangers Thursday night at the Garden, in a match in which Lundqvist was pulled after yielding three goals on 13 shots in the first 11:10, the shortest work night of his 529-start career.
The goaltender, jeered on his way to the bench as Cam Talbot took his spot in net, has won three of his last 12 starts (3-8-1). He has been pulled three times in 24 starts this season after having been pulled once over 105 starts the previous two seasons.
“Good goals or bad goals, when you give up three in 10 minutes or whatever, you don’t expect to finish the game,” Lundqvist said after the Rangers remained empty on the homestand at 0-3-1.
This marked Lundqvist’s fifth consecutive start in net, his longest such stretch of the season. All five have come after he signed his seven-year contract extension last Wednesday. Lundqvist insisted he is 100 percent healthy.
There are no excuses. There are also no explanations for shots flying by him — by the bushel on his glove side — on such an alarming basis.
“The biggest thing for me now is to believe in what I do and to stay confident,” the goaltender said in a somber tone. “Confidence is such an important thing in this game and right now it is not very high.”
The Rangers committed a blunder on the match’s first shift, Brad Richards joining an aborted rush rather than staying high as the third forward. That led to an odd-man rush against on which Lundqvist was beaten over the left shoulder on a left wing drive by Matt Calvert.
Thirty-eight seconds in, the Rangers were behind; the Rangers who were 1-14 entering the match when allowing the first goal.
And who are now 1-15 under such circumstances, winning only in Detroit on Oct. 26.
“Obviously when you are where we are right now, starts are important,” Lundqvist said. “Me not coming up with saves early hurt the team.”
Obviously the blame for this stretch through which the Rangers have gone 3-6-1 in their last 10 while slipping to sixth in the division, is not all on Lundqvist. Every team has injuries, so the absence of Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal and, in this one, Derick Brassard is no good excuse for anyone.
No one is stepping up. Rick Nash was abysmal in this one, unable to record a shot on goal in his first game against his former team. Richards, who has been the club’s best forward this year, was on for all of the Jackets’ first three goals. Derek Stepan, who may be playing his way off the U.S. Olympic Team, has been a non-factor for weeks, having failed to score in 10 straight.
“Individually, I’ve had some good looks, but enough is enough,” he told The Post. “I have to score.”
The Rangers have lost three straight to teams using their third-string goaltenders, the Jackets forced to replace Curtis McElhinney with Mike McKenna for the final two periods when the starter left with a lower body issue. McKenna hadn’t played in an NHL game since Dec. 2, 2010. The Blueshirts scored one goal against him.
“Our confidence is really fragile,” Stepan said. “We’re so fragile.”
Of course they are. They don’t have Lundqvist infusing them with confidence. Their Rock has turned to clay.