NHL

Rangers no longer control their destiny

Break it down, and an other Rangers home game went by without a single point because Henrik Lundqvist had no chance when the Wild broke down two shots.

Kyle Brodziak put his sleight-of-hand to a drive launched by Jared Spurgeon while Erik Christensen was in the box for a careless high stick. Casey Wellman flicked the other goal with Matt Gilroy, who had just been beaten behind the net by Andrew Brunette, watching idly from two feet away, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s third-period shot ticked off Gilroy after one of the very few Rangers defensive zone coverage breakdowns.

The Rangers controlled the Wild for all but an eight-minute period bridging the Brodziak and Wellman second-period goals. But there is no deflecting the damage of a lost week for the Rangers, who fell to eighth place and lost control of their own fate with 16 games to go. They’re just two points ahead of ninth-place Buffalo, which holds three games in hand.

Minnesota goalie Jose Theodore was peppered with multiple shots, particularly early in his 3-1 win, but it didn’t matter and the Rangers are drowning.

The Rangers doubled the Wild in shots (41-19) and chances, which at this stage only doubles the angst.

“It’s definitely a challenge not to get frustrated,” Lundqvist said. “If you watch the games, it’s obvious we work hard as we can.

Lundqvist said the Rangers have been hurt by a high number of deflections in the last 10 games.

“I just hope it will turn around a little bit,” he said. “It seems to hit their guys, our guys and the other teams don’t have to work that hard for their goals. I feel pretty sharp, but I’m still letting in two or three goals a game, and we’re scoring one or two.

“I’ll just try to be bigger.”

You can’t cover any more of the bottom of the net than Lundqvist covered last night, or take any higher road than he did. He refused to scream, “Can’t somebody lift one of their guy’s stick in the slot?” or “Could someone score a goal, please?”

Marian Gaborik, who still is suffering from concussion symptoms, still is out, but he has been a non-factor most of the year, and some other Rangers who can score simply do not. Brandon Dubinsky hasn’t scored a goal in nine games, Brian Boyle has two in 14, Erik Christensen, three in 12, and Wojtek Wolski two in 16. Sean Avery’s goal last night was his first in 23 contests.

Not only hasn’t Mats Zuccarello scored in 18 games, but he has stopped making plays. Right now, he is little more than a shootout specialist, which would be useless in the playoffs, though that prospect looks increasingly dubious.

“Some guys are [pressing] already,” said coach John Tortorella, who likely is contemplating more line shakeups tonight in Ottawa. “Am I worried about that, sure, because I think they care and when they’re not getting it done they try to do even more.

“We have a three-on-one [Tuesday against Buffalo], turn it over and it winds up in our net,” he said. “Tonight Duby and [Ryan Callahan], working hard, end up with a two-on-one and get nothing [when Dubinsky weakly slid the puck wide], and it winds up in our net.

“You can call it bad luck, whatever you want,” he said. “We have to score some goals.”

Getting the first goal, the pregame imperative after the Rangers failed to get ahead against Tampa Bay and Buffalo, didn’t change anything because they couldn’t follow up against a tired team coming off consecutive losses.

“It was a great feeling to leave the first period with a lead,” Lundqvist said. “We give up two in the second, and we begin chasing again.”

With those three Buffalo games-in-hand, that’s what the Rangers are now doing: Chasing.

jay.greenberg@nypost.com