Let’s get this out of the way. Brendan Smith has had a disappointing year, there is no doubt about that. No one is suggesting his presence would have changed the dynamic. But scratching the defenseman for a second straight match — and the 10th time in 43 games — in order to get Steven Kampfer in the lineup makes no sense. Why in the world did they sign No. 42 to a four-year, $17.4 million extension and then use Smith — who, by the way, leads the team with a plus-seven at five-on-five despite his travails — this way?

Zuccarello said that, “We were 100-percent not on the same page,” in describing Saturday’s follies, but it sometimes seems as though that’s the case when it comes to the front office and the coach.

Again. Good teams have lousy games. But mediocre teams have more of them. The Rangers, who have won just three of their past nine games (3-4-2), seven of the last 16 (7-6-3) and 22 of 43 (22-16-5) altogether, seem to fit the description. There is nothing, other than goaltending, they do on a superior basis. They fancy themselves as fast, but they recently have looked like go-carts on the Indy 500 Speedway against legitimate speed teams like the Blackhawks, Devils, Maple Leafs and Red Wings and against quicksilver players such as Barzal.