Rangers stunned by Canadiens at the Garden

Given the way the last two games had gone — with the Rangers pulling off late comebacks in both before winning in a shootout and then overtime — a one-goal deficit against the lowly Montreal Canadiens didn’t seem as if it would be a problem.

Except it’s unrealistic to keep falling behind and expecting to find ways to win.

This time Cole Caufield’s 26th goal put the Canadiens ahead at 8:56 of the third period, and it held up as Montreal stunned the Rangers, 2-1, on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

“We did not play at our level tonight, so there’s nothing more to say,’’ said forward Artemi Panarin, who scored for the Rangers. “We just have to recover somehow, mentally, for tomorrow.’’

The Rangers (24-13-7) will face the Blue Jackets (13-27-2), who have the fewest points in the Eastern Conference, on Monday in Columbus. The loss was the Rangers’ first in regulation in the last eight games (5-1-2).

Montreal, which is in last place in the Atlantic Division, improved to 18-23-3.

“I think we were — it was sort of flat,’’ coach Gerard Gallant said. “The first period, there was six [or] seven chances each way, and a little wide open. Not great ‘D’ zone covered by us, and, you know, a little sleepy. But that was one of those games.’’

Gallant was asked if the flu bug, which has been going around the Rangers’ locker room for the past week or more, might have played a part in the team’s lethargy.

“The energy level didn’t look great,’’ he said. “So whether it’s that or not, I don’t know. But I’m not going to yell at them or scream at them . . . Today we were hoping we were going to have some good jump and we didn’t. They beat us 2-1, so it wasn’t awful. But we expect better from our group.’’

A misplay by Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller led to Caufield’s go-ahead goal. Miller, who has been surging of late, had driven deep into the offensive zone, but the puck slipped off his stick in the right circle before he could get a shot off. The Canadiens ended up with it and started back on a break the other way.

Miller raced back on defense and got back in time, but he overskated the puck behind his own goal line. Nick Suzuki picked it up and fed a wide- open Caufield in the slot.

The teams played a scoreless first period, though much of that, from the Rangers’ end, at least, was because Igor Shesterkin (29 saves) was brilliant. Shesterkin made 10 saves in the first period and many of them were of the top-shelf variety.

“Igor was fantastic as always,’’ forward Filip Chytil said. “Every game, he’s playing unbelievable. We just need to help him by scoring goals. We know he can win half the games by himself, but we need to help him.’’

Montreal got on the scoreboard first on a power-play goal by Kirby Dach at 4:54 of the second period.

It came after the Rangers had a shorthanded two-on-one break that produced a shot on goal by Jacob Trouba, but Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault (38 saves) made a save that sent the rebound off to the right-side boards.

Dach picked up the puck and the Canadiens came away on a three-on-two break. Dach passed to Caufield, who passed to Christian Dvorak, who passed back to Dach, who snapped a shot past Shesterkin for his eighth goal.

Panarin tied it at 16:03 of the period on a shot through traffic on a delayed penalty.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.