Rangers want to fix this weakness before it burns them

Three times this season, the scrambling Rangers have surrendered a goal after their opponent pulled its goalie for an extra attacker.

They actually ended up winning all three of those contests, including a 4-2 victory over the Senators on Monday, but that apparently was enough of a red flag for first-year coach David Quinn to spend a huge chunk of practice ironing out those details before heading to Ottawa for Thursday’s back end of a home-and-home set.

“It’s something we really don’t practice a lot,” Quinn said. “In this league there’s not a lot of time to practice for a lot of things. … It’s an area I thought we were doing a good job and then had a hiccup the other night.

“We also wanted to work on the offensive side of it, but we thought there was an opportunity because the practice had a good pace to it and it was a good chance to slow it down at the end and go over a piece of the equation.”

The Blueshirts (13-10-2) had surrendered game-tying six-on-five goals in the final minute of regulation in back-to-back games in San Jose and Anaheim earlier this season, albeit winning both of those via the shootout tiebreaker.

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They led 3-1 on Monday night when Mark Stone’s goal with 2:43 remaining — with Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson on the bench — drew the Sens back within one score, before Mika Zibanejad sealed the win for the Rangers with an empty-netter, just their third of the season.

“That’s one of those things that you don’t get the opportunity to practice very often,” veteran defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. “I think we’ve definitely improved since we were letting up some goals late, but obviously we let that one up on Monday.

“The important thing is that we work on it and we talk through it and we’re clear about it, so when guys go out there, no matter who, because it could be anyone, everyone is ready to go and knows what to do.”

Zibanejad thought Wednesday’s drills would prove valuable on both sides of the puck for the Rangers, who will be without forwards Mats Zuccarello (groin) and Vladislav Namestnikov (concussion protocol) for the two-game trip to Ottawa and Montreal (Saturday).

“I think it kind of went both ways,” Zibanejad said. “We want to be ready for those games where we’re down, too. That’s gonna happen. So we worked on a few things offensively, as well. But the main emphasis was the defensive side.”

Quinn added that such late-game situations are “both mental and structural,” meaning players need to be in proper mindset “to understand what we’re looking to accomplish,” while also being “aware of where you’re supposed to be” at all times on the ice.

“Oftentimes, it’s maybe a minute or two of a game, but they’re crucial minutes and you’ve got to know what everybody’s doing on the ice and what everyone’s job is. The only way to get better at it is to practice,” defenseman Marc Staal said. “You’ve got to communicate, each guy has got to know everyone else’s job, too, so your reaction and your positioning is right, to give you the best opportunity to kill that time and close out a game. It’s very important.”