Rangers looking for ‘complete reset’ after embarrassing loss to Bruins

The Rangers hit rock bottom Saturday in Boston — or at least, they hope that was rock bottom.

It’s hard to envision it getting much worse than that Boston massacre, when the Rangers became the first team this season to allow 10 goals in a game.

They’ve lost three straight games and six of seven, sinking further in the standings, with the Olympic break approaching and the trade deadline March 6.

If there is any chance of a turnaround, it has to start Monday, when the Rangers play host to Seattle at Madison Square Garden, where they haven’t won in regulation since Nov. 24.

Only Vancouver has won fewer games at home (four) than the Rangers, who have five wins at MSG.

“Listen, I’m not gonna sit here and point fingers at why we’re at where we’re at,’’ Sullivan said following Saturday’s game. “Where we’re at is because of all of us and we’ve got to figure out the solutions to try to get back on the right track and give ourselves a chance. Here’s what I know: We’re a way better team than what we put on the ice today. And for whatever reason, it was a struggle. I don’t have the answers on why, but we’ll work with the players and we’ll dig in and find a way to play to the level we think we’re capable of.”

It’s becoming increasingly clear this might be what the Rangers are capable of, especially with Adam Fox on long-term IR and Igor Shesterkin on IR.

Jonathan Quick and recent call-up Spencer Martin were both overmatched by Boston for the Rangers, who haven’t won a game without Shesterkin on the ice since Nov. 7.

J.T. Miller shouldered some of the blame for letting Saturday’s game get out of hand, saying the goal shouldn’t be to “try to point fingers and make excuses.”

Instead, speaking of the lopsided loss, Miller said, “Let it soak [and] let it feel terrible inside of us. The only thing that matters is responding on Monday.”

But this is also a team that believed it had turned a corner with a convincing win over the Panthers in the Winter Classic just over a week ago.

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They’ve responded with three straight defeats, none worse than the one to the Bruins.

Afterward, Vincent Trocheck said the Rangers needed to fundamentally change what they’re doing.

“It’s almost got to be a complete reset, completely start over,’’ Trocheck said. “We can’t do what we just did. It has to be completely different from today.”

He added that instead of simply putting the embarrassment behind them, the Rangers should take it to heart.

“We should be embarrassed right now and I think we are,’’ Trocheck said. “I don’t think the solution is forgetting about it. I think it’s learning from it. Hopefully we can take this game, and the feeling we have in our stomach right now, and want to never have that again.”

At least part of it starts on defense, an aspect of their game Sullivan said has slipped.

He blamed that on “details. A lot of it boils down to details and commitment.”

“For a long stretch of the season, I thought we were pretty stingy defensively and the numbers suggested that,’’ Sullivan said. “We’ve got to get back to being a stingier team defensively.”

And it’s up to Sullivan to determine how to make that happen — and avoid another disaster like the one on Saturday.

“I’ve got to digest it myself and figure out how I can inspire these guys to be at their best,’’ Sullivan said.

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The Rangers announced Sunday that Brennan Othmann was recalled from AHL Hartford. Anton Blidh was assigned to the Wolf Pack.

Othmann, the team’s first-round pick (16th overall) in 2021, is coming off a stretch in which he scored four goals in five games. In six games with the Rangers this season, Othmann doesn’t have any points. He had a pair of assists in 22 games with them a year ago.