NEW YORK _ It's been a mostly positive run for the Rangers, who entered Monday's home game against the Vegas Golden Knights having gone 5-1-1 in their previous seven games.
And while they seemed to be moving past some of the defensive issues that plagued them earlier in the season, a 4-1 loss to the Golden Knights served as a reminder that they haven't shaken all of their bad habits.
Following their first shutout of the season in Saturday's win over the New Jersey Devils, the Rangers hurt themselves with a collection of turnovers and misplayed coverage.
"We've mentioned this before, where we've either been good or really bad," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "It's a mindset and something we've got to completely buy into that, night in and night out, we've got to be way more committed to playing the right way and playing defense."
Alex Tuch made the Blueshirts (13-10-3) pay for their sluggish start twice in the opening four minutes.
His first goal came after a Rangers' turnover in the offensive zone. Jonathan Marchessault recovered the puck for Vegas and whipped a long pass to Tuch, who was left all alone on the other side of the ice. Henrik Lundqvist got a piece of the shot, but eventually knocked the loose puck in with his own pad.
Seconds later, a holding-the-stick penalty on Brady Skjei gave the Knights (14-11-4) a power play opportunity, with Tuch getting behind a flat-footed Brett Howden to score his second goal of the game on an assist from Nate Schmidt.
"It definitely was not the start we were looking for," Skjei said. "We were told we gave up 13 scoring chances in the first 10 or so minutes. It's not the way you want to start."
