Rangers failed to take control in playoff race, but can recover

The Rangers could have taken charge of their playoff race over the weekend. All they needed to do was hold on to a two-goal lead over the final 10 minutes of their game in Ottawa on Saturday. A win there would have vaulted them over the Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets and into the first wild-card playoff spot in the East.

Instead, they blew the lead and lost in overtime. Then they lost to Columbus — in regulation — the next night at the Garden. So they remain outside of a playoff spot and now must face two Western Conference playoff teams on the road: at No. 2 overall team Winnipeg Tuesday and at Minnesota, the first wild-card team in the West, Thursday, before getting another crack at the Blue Jackets Saturday in Columbus.

But while they had a tough weekend, there’s no time to feel sorry for themselves. There are 18 regular-season games left, and none of the teams in the race with them — Ottawa, Columbus, Detroit, Montreal, Boston and the Islanders — is likely to run away from the pack. Ottawa and Columbus also have three games remaining against each other, so the Rangers will have plenty of opportunities to gain ground in the race, if they can do their part and win games.

After being on the road for three games this week, they’re back home next week for four games against Canadian opponents — Edmonton Sunday, Calgary next Tuesday, Toronto next Thursday and Vancouver (with Filip Chytil) a week from Saturday.

That’s a lot of games in a short amount of time. They can make up for their lost weekend if they do well; they can fade from contention if they don’t.

“We have [seven] games in [12] days, so we don’t have time to pout,’’ J.T. Miller said after Sunday’s loss. “You’d like to win them all, but . . . the team has, over the last little bit, a good body of work . . . and I know we’ll be better next game.’’

They’re going to have to be. In Ottawa they allowed 37 shots on goal, and against Columbus they gave up seven goals. Clearly, the tight defense they had been playing for the previous four games loosened up significantly, and at a bad time.

Vincent Trocheck chalked it up to “shooting ourselves in the foot’’ Sunday night, but K’Andre Miller said, “I think we’re just not playing as hard defensively.’’

Why they would have stopped playing hard defensively would be hard to explain, but maybe all the changes to the defense corps played a part in it. GM Chris Drury traded Ryan Lindgren last Saturday and brought in former Islander Calvin de Haan and then Carson Soucy to a defense still trying to figure out how to play without injured No. 1 defenseman Adam Fox.

Fox being out may have something to do with the power play’s struggles, too. The man-up unit is 1-for-20 over the six games the Jericho native and former Norris Trophy winner has missed. But this is no time for excuses. Coach Peter Laviolette must find a way to have the defense rally, and to get the power play going, without Fox. And fast.

Laviolette dodged the question Sunday of whether Fox, who has been skating on his own, would join the team on the road trip. Even if he’s not ready to come back, having him on the trip probably would be good for team morale. But if he’s ready to come back, that might be good for the power play.