It hasn’t happened often in recent years.
A loss of this magnitude had only befallen the Rangers once in the last 175 regular-season games.
That was until the Blueshirts’ complete and utter collapse Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, where the home team was made to look small and out of sorts in a 6-1 defeat at the hands of the young Sabres.
This was the kind of defeat that not even an 8-3-1 record could mitigate.
The defensive dysfunction, disconnect on offense and overall lack of urgency should ring like three separate alarm bells inside the Rangers locker room.
It is too early in the season for the Rangers to be in cruise control.
There are still 70 games left.
But that was the energy the Rangers gave off in front of their home crowd, which headed for the exits early since it certainly was not the kind of game worth sticking around for on a school night.
The Rangers are still missing that “pop,” as head coach Peter Laviolette described it.
Their breakdowns in the defensive zone are ending up in the back of the net more often than not.
Igor Shesterkin has been a Band-Aid for this Rangers team lately, but the Rangers goalie was not able to cover up his teammates’ mistakes this time around.
After letting in a rare soft goal 26 seconds into the game, Shesterkin was ultimately pulled in favor of Jonathan Quick after giving up five goals on 12 shots.
This was a glimpse of what the Rangers can look like when their star goalie’s brilliance fades.
By the way, the word on Shesterkin, who has otherwise been outstanding recently, is that there is nothing new to report regarding his contract negotiations.