Rangers blow early lead in embarrassing loss to Kraken

For the Rangers on Monday, it was all about response.

How would they respond to Saturday’s humiliating loss in Boston, when they became the first team to allow 10 goals in a game this season?

Basically, just like they have all season: With a loss.

This 4-2 defeat to Seattle at Madison Square Garden, though, was even more brutal than most.

Not only did they match their season high with a fourth straight defeat, it came after the Rangers took a 2-0 lead just 5:31 into the game, with two goals on their first four shots.

But they blew that advantage by allowing a pair of goals in the second period before Shane Wright stuffed one past Jonathan Quick at 12:02 in the third period to give the Kraken their first lead, as the Rangers lost for the seventh time in their past eight games.

The Rangers attempt to put Saturday’s Boston massacre behind them got off to an inauspicious start, when J.T. Miller took a slashing penalty just 36 seconds into the game.

But then Mika Zibanejad banked one in off the back of Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer to give the Rangers a lead at 3:08 of the first period.

And Sam Carrick followed with a wrister at 5:31 of the first to put them up by a pair of goals and the Rangers seemed well on their way to an uncharacteristic convincing win.

These are the Rangers, though, so they can’t do anything the easy way.

They let the Kraken back in the game early in the second, when Eeli Tolvanen, who nearly scored in the first period, beat Quick at the 1:00 to cut the Rangers’ lead to 2-1.

And just over three minutes later, Jordan Eberle’s wrister got by Quick to tie the game at 2-2.

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When Wright followed Berkly Catton’s shot by knocking it by Quick, Seattle had its first lead — and the Garden crowd responded with “Fire Drury” chants, as GM Chris Drury continues to drop in the Eastern Conference standings with the Olympic break approaching and the trade deadline just over seven weeks away.

Another loss, following a game in which the Rangers became the first team in the league to allow 10 goals in a game this season, makes it even more difficult to envision a turnaround, particularly with the team talking about righting the ship prior to the game.

“It would be hard not to be disappointed or angry with the result of the last game,” Braden Schneider said after the morning skate. “Everyone in here was fuming the last couple of days. We’ve got to use that bit of anger toward this game, but be able to move past it.”

Mike Sullivan had a similar message, saying a good response to the “humbling experience” in Boston would be “playing the game with passion [and] playing the game with purpose.”

“We want to play hard and we’ve got to be willing to skate and initiate contact,” the coach said. “But we also have to have strong positional play, good stick detail and [focus on] being in the right spots. It’s knowing your job and doing your job. Play hard and smart.”

For one period, they accomplished that — before it all fell apart, again.