NHL

BAD HAB-ITS SPELL DOOM FOR RANGERS

If Monday’s 4-0 victory over the Penguins represented a step back to the identity the Rangers had created for themselves the first six weeks of the season, then last night’s 6-3 Garden defeat to the Canadiens represented a step back, period.

Yes, it was a winnable 2-2 game after two, but the Rangers did very little to distinguish themselves even if coach Tom Renney essentially blamed officiating for the defeat in what was the club’s final match at home before a five-game road tour that commences tomorrow night in Buffalo.

Discipline was lacking, as evidenced most critically by the three penalties the club took within a span of 1:43 early in the third period – dumber, dumb and dumbest infractions committed by Aaron Voros, Ryan Callahan and Scott Gomez, respectively – of what had been a 2-2 game, but had become 4-2 by the time the last Ranger was let out of jail.

A hard forecheck was little but a rumor until the third. The rush game came and went, the team didn’t earn a power play until 3:42 remained, the penalty-killers gave up a pair (one five-on-three) and the one-on-one defensive play – what happened to you last night, Marc Staal? – was poor.

And, most damaging, the goaltending was sub par. Coming off one of his sharpest efforts of the season, Henrik Lundqvist was pedestrian in nets, if that. He was shaky from the start when he committed a stick-handling gaffe that gave the Canadiens a freebie just 3:05 in.

“I thought I battled back after that bad first goal but giving up five obviously is not good enough,” said Lundqvist, who watched Montreal’s final goal, Robert Lang’s hat-trick score, sail into an empty net. “I thought the team played really well, but we can’t expect to win if I give up five goals.

“I have to play better than that. I was definitely not good enough.”

Lundqvist has allowed four goals or more in six of his last 11 starts after having surrendered that many in two of his first 24. He has yielded five or more goals in five of his last 17 starts after allowing that many in four of his previous 61. It’s a troubling trend, to say the least.

So, too, is it troubling to note that every single time a Ranger crashed the net and came close to Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak, he was mugged by a posse of Canadiens; every single time! Maybe the Rangers might want to be as rude to poachers, but then, they aren’t built that way.

As he has been since brought out of witness protection, Petr Prucha was the Rangers’ most creative and best offensive player, not that he gave up anything on the other side of the puck. Linemates Nigel Dawes and Chris Drury had snap and pace to their game as well. What in the world took Renney so long?

And what on earth is Voros, who took the first damaging penalty of the third, doing in the lineup at the expense of Lauri Korpikoski?

larry.brooks@nypost.com

Canadiens 6 Rangers 3