NHL

Offensively challenged Rangers in free fall after 3-0 loss to Penguins

PITTSBURGH —

A sold-out crowd packed Consol Energy Center with extra energy, fueled by the Penguins’ perch atop the Eastern Conference, the struggling Rangers in town and the St. Patrick’s Day festivities outside the arena.

At this rate, it may be the closest the Rangers get to a playoff atmosphere.

A mini-slide has turned into a full-blown funk, threatening their postseason hopes in this lockout-shortened season.

Another early goal allowed, another inconsistent effort and the punchless offense’s continued struggles added up to yet another defeat yesterday. The Rangers’ third straight loss and fourth in five games was a 3-0 blanking at the hands of the sizzling Penguins that plunged them deeper into their current slump. The good feelings from a recent five-game win streak have been washed away, as the Rangers have scored two goals in their past three games.

“It’s gut-check time, pretty much,” Dan Girardi said. “We have to find out what’s going on here, play with some serious desperation.”

The Rangers finished their four-game road trip 1-3-0 following their their third loss in as many games this season to Atlantic Division-leading Pittsburgh, which has outscored the Blueshirts 12-3 in their one-sided meetings. The Penguins are riding an eight-game winning streak and have taken seven straight from the Rangers.

The Blueshirts have picked up just two points of a possible 10 and would be out of the playoffs if the lockout-shortened season ended today. As it stands, just 21 games remain for the Rangers to find the form that has eluded them much of the year.

“We can’t come up with excuses,” goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said. “We can try to look at different things and try explaining different scenarios, but bottom line, we have to be better.

“It’s painful right now.”

As was the case in 3-1 losses to the Sabres and the Jets during the week, the Rangers’ attack was at best inconsistent and at worst nonexistent. There were large chunks of inactivity and while the Rangers tried to create traffic in front of Marc-Andre Fleury (23 saves), the Penguins did a fine job of preventing that.

“We’ve got to work through it and try to find our way here,” coach John Tortorella said. “We just need to stay together as a team. We have good people, we just have to have some good things happen to us, and hopefully we can go that way.”

For the third straight game, the Rangers (13-12-2, 28 points) yielded an early goal, a Beau Bennett slap shot beating Henrik Lundqvist five-hole at 1:30 of the first period. The buzzing Penguins dominated the opening period, outshooting the Rangers 13-4, and if not for Lundqvist turning away Sidney Crosby, Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz on point-blank opportunities, the rout would have been cemented earlier.

“Obviously, it’s not the start we want,” Ryan Callahan said. “We weren’t good at all in the first. They were all over us.”

The Rangers’ play picked up significantly in the second period — they equaled their first-period shot output over the first four minutes — but Fleury made sure they didn’t get on the board.

The Penguins regained control late in the period and exploded for a pair of crushing goals early in the third just 43 seconds apart, from Tyler Kennedy and Dupuis.

There was plenty of time remaining, but little intrigue remained. The Rangers had failed to produce that much offense over their last 180 minutes of hockey, and are watching a season with Stanley Cup hopes morph into bitter disappointment.

Rick Nash was hit by a shot on the right knee early in the first period and went to the locker room, but returned shortly thereafter. “I’m fine,” he said.

zbraziller@nypost.com