For two periods, Igor Shesterkin made a mediocre performance by the Rangers seem as if it could be enough.

But then with under three minutes left, there lay Shesterkin, sprawled on the ice, a cluster of Hurricanes surrounding him and celebrating after Brent Burns’ pass to an unmarked Teuvo Teravainen ended up in the back of the net — giving Carolina the lead for good in the Rangers’ 3-2 loss Tuesday night.

If this week’s two games against the Hurricanes are a measuring stick, then the Rangers are halfway toward failing their test.

It wasn’t as crisp, clean or sharp as their previous four wins, but a late goal by Tyler Motte in the first period still gave the Rangers an early lead. The Blueshirts blew that lead, and then blew a 2-1 lead in less than 30 seconds in the third period, snapping their four-game winning streak.

The first period wasn’t like Sunday’s against the Penguins, when the Rangers scored six goals in the opening frame.

Instead, passes were intercepted or didn’t reach their intended targets altogether, and that led to a handful of open chances for the Hurricanes — including one after a turnover from Barclay Goodrow in his own zone, and another from Adam Fox after he tried a lengthy pass from behind his net.

The Rangers went more than five minutes without a shot, as the Hurricanes controlled possession.

But over the final half of the period, their offense started to click a bit more, and everything culminated with Goodrow collecting possession off a faceoff deep in the Carolina zone.

He quickly slid a pass to Motte at the other end of the crease, and Motte flipped his sixth goal of the season past Frederik Andersen with three minutes remaining.

Motte’s goal was his second in three games — while Goodrow now has points in consecutive games for the first time since December — and the Rangers’ streak of consecutive goals scored against opponents reached 16. Their streak of shutting out opponents reached eight periods.

But the Rangers couldn’t generate additional goals after that until the third.

They were outshot 15-5 in the second frame, and Shesterkin bailed them out of numerous open chances near the net.

Carolina had fewer high-danger chances than it did in the first frame, according to Natural Stat Trick, but the Hurricanes possessed the puck for lengthy periods of time and extended shifts for the Rangers.

A deflection by Sebastian Aho with 8:30 left appeared to sneak in between Shesterkin and the post, but it was knocked away.

Then, two minutes later, Stefan Noesen snapped a shot toward the top corner that Shesterkin snagged with his glove.

A strange burst of three goals in 49 seconds turned a 1-0 game into a 2-2 tie, with both teams injecting life into their offense and just flat-out leaving players open.

Jalen Chatfield tied the score at 1, tearing down the right side and snapping a shot off the crossbar and into the net.

It didn’t take long for the Rangers to retake the lead, either. Kaapo Kakko wasn’t wide open — just a stride or so in front of three Hurricanes, gliding toward the spot where a rebound from Ryan Lindgren’s shot might land.

When Carolina scored its second goal, on the first rush after Kakko’s tally, Mika Zibanejad was outmuscled by Jordan Staal in the corner, Jacob Trouba was a step late with his stick and Noesen was unmarked in front of Shesterkin.

Then, Burns and Teravainen connected for the final tally, and any chance the Rangers had to gain ground in the standings evaporated with one final shot.