Rangers’ power play fails again in loss to first-place Capitals

WASHINGTON — The mounting losses have eroded nearly every part of the Rangers’ game, even the one that was once a foundational piece of their success.

Five-on-five play was better Saturday at Capital One Arena than it had been, but the Blueshirts curdled in the special teams battle in a 7-4 loss to the first-place team in the Metropolitan Division, the Capitals.

Whiffing on four power-play opportunities and giving up two on the penalty kill, the Rangers — once again — could not build on their previous win.

The loss counted as their fifth in their past six games, eighth in their past 10 and 16th in their past 21.

Alex Ovechkin notched goal No. 872 in the victory to bring the Capitals star within 23 of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring record. On the other side, Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick was denied win No. 400.

Special teams has anchored the Rangers through inconsistent five-on-five play in recent years, but there isn’t a single aspect of the team’s game this season that has been operating at a high level.

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The power play is 1-for-28 in the past 10 games after an 0-for-4 showing Saturday.

The penalty kill has also given up seven power-play goals in the past five, including the Capitals’ two.

It wasn’t just the statistics of the Rangers’ power play but the ineffectiveness of their man-advantage stretches altogether.

Despite finishing with the same number of power plays, the Capitals doubled the Rangers’ shots with the man advantage (10-5).

There were issues holding the zone and a horrific back-check by Alexis Lafreniere, who only just earned the promotion to the first power-play unit.

It prompted Mika Zibanejad to retake his spot later in the game.

Just a week ago, K’Andre Miller correctly identified how the Rangers have felt like they’ve already lost the game when they’re losing.

The Rangers didn’t give up in this one, however, as other lopsided scores have indicated as of late.

Scoring twice in the final 20 minutes on goals from Filip Chytil and Zibanejad, the Rangers pulled within one twice.

But Washington never let up, answering each of the Rangers’ goals with one of their own to keep the visitors at an arm’s distance.

The Rangers got a fortuitous break seven minutes into the game, when Capitals goalie Logan Thompson flubbed a clearing attempt right to Chris Kreider, who shot it back into an empty net from long range to take a 1-0 lead.

Clean zone entries and taking care of the puck allowed the visitors to lead for a majority of the period, but the Capitals gained some momentum on a couple of poor power plays from the Rangers.

On the Capitals’ second stretch with the man advantage, after Brett Berard sat in the box for holding, the Capitals wreaked havoc around Quick before Dylan Strome buried a rebound to knot the game at 1-1.

Quick was furious and immediately voiced it to the refs, presumably because of all the traffic in and around the blue crease or Ovechkin getting tangled up with his stick leading up to the goal.

Penalties have piled up for the Blueshirts in recent games.

Aside from the 2-1 win over the Bruins, the Rangers were charged with at least 10 penalty minutes in each of the past six games leading up to Thursday’s, including two contests with 20-plus minutes in the box.