If the Rangers hadn’t been able to persevere in last year’s second round of the playoffs against this very same opponent, a night like this would be of more concern.

Instead, Tuesday’s 3-2 Garden defeat to Carolina that the ’Canes dominated for the final 40 minutes should serve as a reminder that the tournament will not be played on the autobahn.

“We were certainly not at our best tonight, it was a little bit different style of game and we just couldn’t manufacture enough,” Jacob Trouba said after the match in which Carolina scored three times within 7:37 of the third period to overcome 1-0 and 2-1 deficits. “They played well, I’m not taking anything away from them, but we didn’t win enough battles to win this game.”

The Rangers spent most of the final two periods in the defensive zone. They rarely had down-low possession in the offensive zone. Most importantly, the Blueshirts almost never seemed to be in their comfort zone.

They could not create time or space, let alone both at once. Their big guns had substandard nights, from Patrick Kane to Mika Zibanejad to Artemi Panarin and then straight down the chorus line. Creativity was stifled. Hope passes were generally hopeless. The Rangers put very little sustained pressure on either Carolina’s defense or goaltender Freddie Andersen.

Meanwhile, the Blueshirts’ D and netminder Igor Shesterkin were under duress most of the night. The Rangers could not make the crisp first pass out of the zone. There were always red-hatted foes in their faces.

“They bring their defense down the wall every time,” Jimmy Vesey said. “Maybe we could have used more flips out of the zone, but you have to win your battles to be able to do that, and we didn’t win enough.”

Not even close on this night for this team that had won four straight and had gone 6-0-1 in the previous seven. The power play was unable to generate even the slightest momentum on its first two opportunities so, given a third chance in the third period while still holding a 1-0 lead fashioned on Tyler Motte’s goal late in the first, the coaching staff changed up their units.

Zibanejad and Chris Kreider were with Kane, Panarin and Adam Fox instead of with Vladimir Tarasenko, Filip Chytil and Trouba. It made no tangible difference. The man-advantage ended with one shot on goal. Less than a half-minute later, Carolina tied it to end Shesterkin’s shutout streak at 120:40, and the club’s at 180:40.

“They were on top of us most of the game,” Trouba said. “We wouldn’t create space for ourselves to move out of the zone because we didn’t win the 50-50s. When that happens, you’re standing still with the puck when you get it.

“Our puck support wasn’t good enough. It just wasn’t our best.”

The Rangers played a solid enough first period but caved in the second, outshot overall 15-5 and out-attempted 23-5 at five-on-five. Scoring chances were 6-1 against, according to Natural Stat Trick. This was a period, and indeed a game in which analytics aligned with the eye test.

It’s not as if the Rangers couldn’t get out of their own way. It’s that they could not generate enough pace to get out of the ’Canes’ way. If the game is a crawl, that plays into every opponent the Blueshirts will face. (Well, maybe not the Devils.) This game slowed to a crawl much of the time. There were 25 faceoffs in the second period, 63 for the night.

This was a referendum on these 60 minutes and not of the Rangers’ composition. They were probably too stubborn, probably tried too many cross-ice passes through the neutral zone even after it became apparent this was a losing strategy. Again, though, the home team just could not create separation on the ice. Turnovers and giveaways followed.

This group will get the chance to rectify their mistakes and atone for their sins on Thursday in Raleigh in the back end of this home-and-home. Do you need to be reminded that the Rangers had won their first two meetings against Carolina this year? Do you need to be reminded that even playing this deficiently, the Rangers were tied 2-2 with under three minutes to go?

“It’s one game,” Trouba said. “We like the way we have played. There’s not too much panic or worry. We’ll move on.”