In the midst of a three-game losing streak and desperate to earn some points, the Rangers were set to do something positive last night when the Eastern Conference cellar dwelling Tampa Bay Lightning paid a visit to MSG. With the Lightning currently on a horrendous seven game skid and starting third-string 21-year-old goaltender Karri Ramo, the Rangers seemed to be poised to break out in a big way. But with Sean Avery and Martin Straka out again, and Brendan Shanahan playing cautiously on his injured knee, the Blueshirts were far from ready to tackle even one of the NHL’s weakest teams.

The resulting 5-3 loss was perhaps their lowest point of the season and they are currently out of a playoff spot in the conference with 39 games remaining. Even with the injuries, the defeat was inexcusable. For the first 40 minutes, they played as if nothing mattered. Chris Gratton led the way for the Lightning with two goals and an assist and Ramo, who made an early gaffe, recovered and performed admirably. The Rangers woke up in the final period and had great chances to tie the game late, but ended up with just another embarrassing home ice loss.

Jaromir Jagr put the Blueshirts up early in the first period when Ramo mishandled the puck behind the net. It was a good start for the home team and the youngster in net looked a little nervous. But less than three minutes later, Doug Janik beat Henrik Lundqvist to tie it up and at 8:24, Gratton, off a nice feed from Jason Ward, put the Lightning up for good.

Gratton got his second of the night at 4:23 of the second period and then Vaclav Prospal beat Lundqvist at 10:51 to increase the lead to 4-1 and the catcalls cascaded down from the capacity crowd. For over 30 minutes, the Rangers had been thoroughly outplayed and the Garden faithful was completely taken out of the game. But Scott Gomez gave them something to cheer about with a power-play tally at 18:24 to narrow the margin back to two.

Michal Rozsival scored his career-high 11th of the season at 4:22 of the final period (another power-play tally) to make it a game again and the Rangers were finally taking the play to the supposedly overmatched visitors. The question is why it took so long for the Blueshirts to find their game. Late in the period, Tampa Bay took several penalties and the Rangers had ample opportunity to even the score. But even a five-on-three man advantage with the inexperienced Ramo in net wasn’t enough.

Martin St. Louis tapped in the empty-netter with three seconds remaining in regulation, thanks to a very unselfish play by Vincent Lecavalier, to complete the scoring. After having been outshot 23-21 the first two periods, the Rangers dominated the third with 13 shots to the Lightning’s three, but as Rangers’ fans has seen all season, lots of shots on goal doesn’t necessarily translate into goals or victories.

Lundqvist finished with 21 saves in a losing cause and Ramo was better than expected with 31 saves. With the losing streak now at four, the Rangers are tied for last in the Atlantic Division with the Islanders and are tied for eighth place in the conference. If the season were to end today, they would be out of playoff contention because they’ve played one more game than the Islanders. With just slightly less than half the season left, it’s time to turn it around.

The Philadelphia Flyers are in town on Thursday night.