As the Eastern Conference Final shifts back to New York, the Rangers are facing a troubling trend that they managed to escape from Game 3 without being burned by but came back to bite them in their Game 4 loss on Tuesday night to the Panthers. 

The Rangers dropped Game 4 in overtime, 3-2, as the Panthers evened the series. 

And the Rangers have found themselves severely outplayed on the offensive end, with the Panthers out-attempting the Blueshirts by an alarming rate in the past two games, including an 88-44 margin in Tuesday’s loss, according to Natural Stat Trick. 

To add to the matter, Florida had more than double the high-danger chances (16-6) that the Rangers had in the Game 4 loss. 

Igor Shesterkin was forced to make big save after big save as the Panthers put pressure on throughout the night, with Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart finding the back of the net. 

“We’re spending a little too much time playing defense, especially in the second period,” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said when discussing Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad’s line. “That happened last game as well, so we’re not able to move and generate the way that we want to out there. They come at you hard. They dump a lot of pucks.

“They forecheck hard so you’re not spending time in the right zone.” 

The Rangers faced a similar issue in Game 3 — a contest in which they did squeak out an overtime win — when they were out-attempted 108-43, and the high-danger chances skewed in the Panthers’ favor, 16-8.

“That’s something we did a much better job of at home of controlling the play,” Laviolette continued. “But there was a spot in Game 3 and then a spot here in Game 4 where we didn’t get that push out of the period and it keeps guys from playing in the zone that they want to get to. They’re not there.”

The series returns to Madison Square Garden for Game 5 on Thursday night.