NHL

Rangers coach calls off-day meeting before game with Thrashers

ATLANTA — Four games down, three of which the Rangers have lost, since their stretch of seven games in 11 nights leading into the All-Star break began last weekend.

Three more to go for this battered club that since the start of that run has lost both Brandon Dubinsky and Ruslan Fedotenko to injuries, thus further decimating the core and making it even more imperative that the people in uniform — veterans and rookies, young and old — understand exactly what is expected of them and of the team under these conditions.

Which is why coach John Tortorella held a rare off-day meeting and video session last night in preparation for tonight’s match against the eighth-place Thrashers, whom the Blueshirts lead by three points in the Eastern Conference.

“We need to teach our team concept to the newer guys who are here and need to reinforce it with the guys who have been here all along,” said Tortorella, whose team was uncharacteristically porous in Thursday’s 4-1 defeat in Carolina. “I don’t want anyone to misunderstand what I was saying after the game. I wasn’t blaming the rookies for the loss, it was our top guys more than anyone who struggled.

“Offensively, we were fine in creating chances, but on defense, we were buffoons with the reads some of our top guys were making, and on pretty easy reads off the rush. It wasn’t the injuries that cost us the game, but this is the chance for us to sit down with the team, show clips, and do some teaching, especially about our play without the puck, before this final stretch into the break.”

The Marc Staal-Dan Girardi pair suffered through its worst night in months. Steve Eminger and Michael Sauer struggled. There was a key Brian Boyle penalty-killing breakdown that contributed to the Carolina power-play goal that gave the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead early in the second and annoyed the coach no end. Marian Gaborik was MIA after his big night against the lousy Leafs.

“We have guys who have done so much for us all year, but with the situation we’re at, we can’t have our big guys make big mistakes and that’s what happened in Carolina,” Tortorella said. “It’s important that we have complete understanding, because as I told the team before last weekend, this stretch leading into the break isn’t about development or about veterans getting their minutes, it’s about doing what’s necessary to win these games.”

The Rangers are 1-3 in their last four, 2-4 in the last six and 5-5-1 in their last 11. The road trip concludes Monday in Washington before Tuesday’s match at the Garden against the Panthers that will precede a full week off for the club before the schedule resumes on Feb. 1 with a home game against the Penguins in which Ryan (Heartbeat) Callahan should return.

“Our team is going to be ready to play each game,” Tortorella said. “Sometimes talk from the outside about all the injuries creeps into the room, and we have to deal with that, but our guys have been really good about avoiding excuses.

“We just need to get it done. This is our team. With the jam we’re in right now, our top guys can’t have games like they had in Carolina. They have to be better. But they know that. And I’m sure they will be.”

larry.brooks@nypost.com