The Rangers’ growing playoff predicament is impossible to ignore

There comes a time when you just have to take a break from hitting your head against a wall. Does anyone today seriously need another rundown of what is going so wrong for the Rangers over a first 23 games in which so little has gone right?

The Blueshirts left the ice following Monday’s 5-3 defeat to the Devils in fifth place (by point percentages) in both the Metropolitan Division and the wild card race in a league in which both the loser’s point and the paucity of head-to-head divisional matches conspire against clubs coming from behind in the standings.

Still, it can be done. In 2018-19, the Blues charged from last place overall on Jan. 2 with a 15-18-4 record to go on a 17-4-1 run that extended to 30-10-5, boosting them not only into the playoffs but to a Stanley Cup. In 2014-15, the Senators, 10 points out of a playoff spot on Jan. 17 with a 22-23-10 mark, went an astounding 21-3-3 the rest of the way to make the playoffs before losing in the first round.

Both of those teams’ revivals were sparked by goaltenders who essentially came out of nowhere — Jordan Binnington for St. Louis and Andrew (Hamburglar) Hammond for Ottawa. Following that model, the Rangers perhaps should dip down into Hartford and promote Dylan Garand, the 20-year-old who recorded his first pro shutout Saturday in, of course, a 1-0 shootout defeat to Hershey.