NHL

FLAWED RANGERS SINK TO EIGHTH WITH PASSIONLESS PLAY

BUFFALO – So now the first week of July is coming back to bite the Rangers and bite them when it hurts.

Now the impact of the decisions to wave goodbye to Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery, the three strongest and most distinct personalities in the room, and replace them with low-key individuals seeking cover from the spotlight, should be evident to anyone and everyone who watches the Rangers try to play hockey.

This isn’t to absolve the playing personnel of the responsibility for last night’s embarrassment of a 4-2 defeat to the Sabres in which the Blueshirts appeared to try for about half the game. Not at all. When Emile Francis visits the Garden tonight for the Andy Bathgate-Harry Howell ceremony that will precede the match against the Maple Leafs, he will be greeted by a flashback if he sticks around to catch the varsity.

Ranger Fat Cats.

It’s this, it’s that, it’s the other thing. But it’s the Rangers, a team whose structural flaws are no excuse for their failure to compete in falling behind 3-0 after two on their way to dropping their eighth straight on the road (0-7-1) since Jan. 16, a stretch in which they have been outscored by a stupefying 30-8.

It’s Wade Redden, a ghost of a player. It’s Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, painfully ill-equipped to assume the heavy burden of leadership. It’s Markus Naslund, a shadow most nights. It’s Michal Rozsival, reverting, and it’s Dan Girardi, sliding backwards nearly every single day.

It’s Nikolai Zherdev, rarely and barely a factor. It’s Brandon Dubinsky, out of sorts without a veteran to lean on for support. It’s sixth defenseman Erik Reitz, ridiculously out of shape. It’s the eighth-place Blueshirts, just three points clear of ninth and four points clear of 10th, stumbling around in the darkness.

“This was not even close to a 60-minute effort; hell no,” Dubinsky, brash and candid enough not to sugar-coat it, told The Post. “We played 30 hard minutes, the first 10 and the last 20, and there isn’t any excuse for it.

“We’ve got to be more accountable. We have to be more accountable to each other. It starts with each individual. I’m not excusing myself. There’s a responsibility we all have to ourselves and the organization.

“There’s a reason each one of us is here. There’s a role each one of us has to fill. Whatever that role is, each player has to be his very best at it,” said Dubinsky. “We have to be tougher on each other; we have to make sure we hold each other accountable for getting the job done.

“You know, we have a great group of guys, but maybe because we’re all such good friends, we don’t get on each other enough. Maybe we’re too willing to just go along with it and when that happens, it becomes contagious.”

Great group of guys? Everyone best friends? No one willing to be the necessary jagged edge?

Paging Sean Avery.

And while we’re at the white courtesy phone, paging head coach Tom Renney, as well.

*

Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller suffered a high ankle sprain after a collision behind the net with Gomez, 1:54 into the third. Sabres head coach Lundy Ruff predictably charged intent to injure. Gomez, who wouldn’t hurt a flea, said it was an accident. There was no penalty on the play.

larry.brooks@nypost.com

Sabres 4 Rangers 2