Rangers fall short against Oilers

The process was right.

The result was not.

And the problem for the Rangers is that with 14 games left in what has been a roller-coaster season, there is no time for moral victories. Not for a team in the middle of a desperate playoff push.

That was a point Will Cuylle made perfectly clear after the Rangers’ 3-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at the Garden on Sunday night.

“We need wins at this time of year,” Cuylle said after the Rangers fell to 33-29-6 (72 points) and saw their winning streak end at two games.

The Rangers, who have not won three in a row since mid-November, remained one point ahead of the Canadiens for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Montreal has two games in hand.

The Rangers are two points ahead of the Blue Jackets (who also have two games in hand) and Red Wings (who have one game in hand).

“It’s unfortunate,” center Sam Carrick said. “It’s a tough way to give up two points, but we’ll have to move on.”

Especially given that the Rangers essentially played the star-laden Oilers (39-24-4, 82 points) to a standstill for much of the game as the teams entered the third period tied at 1-1.

It stayed that way until Viktor Arvidsson beat Igor Shesterkin (20 saves) with a shot high to the glove side at 6:09. The shot deflected off the stick of defenseman Zac Jones and surprised Shesterkin.

While the Oilers celebrated what turned out to be the game-winning goal, Shesterkin stared at the ceiling as if he were looking for an answer — one that was not forthcoming.

The Rangers were granted a power play three minutes after Arvidsson’s goal when Jeff Skinner crosschecked Will Borgen, but the Rangers could muster only two shots against Stuart Skinner (21 saves).

Connor McDavid made it 3-1 with a hard wrist shot at 16:35.

“We just couldn’t score,” Borgen said. “We played well defensively.”

The Rangers finished with 22 shots on goal and 57 shot attempts and limited the Oilers to 23 shots and 53 attempts in a playoff-style game.

The Rangers trailed 1-0 after taking three penalties in the first period. They successfully killed the first two to Zac Jones (hooking at 4:37) and J.T. Miller (interference at 11:23). But 24 seconds after K’Andre Miller was called for hooking at 18:53, Corey Perry lifted a backhander over a prone Shesterkin to make it 1-0.

That goal was tough to absorb for the Rangers, who had matched the Oilers shot-for-shot at five-on-five.

Both teams were credited with six shots on goal at even strength. But Edmonton had six more shots on its three power plays compared to the Rangers’ one on their only man advantage in the period.

The Rangers had three power-play chances but failed to score.

“The power play had some good looks,” Cuylle said of the man-up units, which generated four shots on goal overall.

Cuylle tied it 1-1 five minutes into the second period by swatting a loose puck past Skinner for his 18th goal of the season.

The game reinforced the Rangers’ newfound straight-line approach, which coach Peter Laviolette believes can be traced back to the Jan. 31 acquisition of J.T. Miller from Vancouver.

“He’s a north-south guy,” Laviolette said before the game. “He’s been really good for our group to have him come in here and play the way he has, and the attitude he has has been a real seamless fit.”

The Rangers entered the game 12th in the NHL in shots at five-on-five with 352 in the 17 games they have played since the trade, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.

After the Rangers’ tying goal, they pushed for the remainder of the period, with the best chance being Matt Rempe’s breakaway, but Skinner made the stop.

Notes & quotes: D Carson Soucy, RW Arthur Kaliyev, D Calvin de Haan and C Juuso Parssinen were the scratches.