How David Quinn is trying to break Rangers out of their funk

LAS VEGAS — A day after observing that his team had “no legs,” there were the Rangers back on the ice Monday, practicing in advance of Tuesday’s match against the Golden Knights.

But this was not a demanding skate punctuated by whistles and sharp commands and corrections from coach David Quinn. Rather, this was a spirited 45-minute spin that represented an attempt at a mental recharge in the wake of three consecutive resounding and demoralizing defeats.

“When things go bad, we have to do a better job of stopping it,” said Quinn, whose team has surrendered three or more goals in a period eight times in the past 19 games. “We might go down 1-0 [to Vegas], but what are we going to do about it? Right now, we’re in a feel-sorry-for-ourselves mode. We can’t let that creep in.

“We have to do a better job with our mentality.”

The Blueshirts will attempt to break the slide without Kevin Hayes, who will miss his third straight game with an unidentified “lingering issue.” The center, whose absence has been at least somewhat of a factor in the 6-1 and 5-0 defeats to Colorado and Arizona, respectively, has not skated since Wednesday.

The team is more likely than not to place Hayes on retroactive injured reserve in order to clear a roster spot for a recall from AHL Hartford for Thursday’s match at the Garden against the Islanders.

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Alexandar Georgiev will get the start against the Golden Knights. Quinn said he has not had an in-depth conversation this week with Henrik Lundqvist, who was pulled from his last two starts.

“We had a long discussion last week,” the coach said. “His frustration level is no higher than all of us. It’s just he’s under a little more of a microscope.”

Quinn did not specify the change/changes, but said there would be a lineup adjustment on defense. Brendan Smith, who was benched for the duration of the first period after taking a senseless elbowing penalty 6:37 on Sunday against the Coyotes, is a likely candidate to watch in street clothes, though not alone following the twin 6-1 and 5-0 debacles in Colorado and Arizona, respectively.

Tony DeAngelo has been scratched from three straight and six of the past eight games.