Rangers fall to Mammoth for fourth straight loss

SALT LAKE CITY — The only thing that’s been keeping the Rangers afloat in the early days of the season has been their amazing form on the road. Before they began this three-game swing through Vegas and the Rockies, they had won nine of their first 11 games (9-1-1).

But they have come back to earth on the road on this trip, and now they are sinking.

Nick DeSimone’s goal at 7:32 of the third period broke a tie and propelled the Utah Mammoth to a 3-2 victory on Saturday night that left the Rangers 0-for-3 on the trip and sent them to a season-high fourth straight loss.

DeSimone’s shot from the right point through traffic deflected off something and got by Jonathan Quick (31 saves) for the go-ahead goal.

The Rangers (10-11-2) had a chance to tie it when Logan Cooley tripped Jonny Brodzinski with 8:20 remaining, but they failed to score on the ensuing power play.

“They had looks,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said of the power play, which went 0-for-2. “But we can’t rely on the power play all the time. We needed more of a complete game five-on-five.

“We got outplayed.’’

The Rangers were without captain J.T. Miller, who missed the game with an upper-body injury suffered in Thursday’s 6-3 loss at Colorado. They also were without defenseman Will Borgen, who missed his second straight game and his third in four with an upper-body injury.

They nearly lost Quick, too, when he was clipped by an inadvertent stick and was knocked over and into his net with 3:20 remaining. After a few moments, he was able to shake it off and stay in the game.

The Rangers return home Sunday and will host St. Louis on Monday before going back on the road for two games, at Carolina and at Boston, on either side of Thanksgiving.

They’ll hope they can turn their fortunes around at home, where they are 1-7-1, on Monday, but they also have to hope they can bounce back on the road, too.

Forward Will Cuylle was asked if anything had changed in the way the team played on this trip compared with what it had done in its first 11 road games.

“No, nothing changed,’’ he said. “It’s the same mindset. We’re trying to play the same way and stick to the game plan. But obviously, it overall needs to be better if we want to come out with wins on the road.’’

Utah got on the board first. Nate Schmidt’s shot through traffic deflected off someone in front and hit the post, and with Quick out of position, J.J. Peterka tapped in the rebound at 10:08.

The Rangers tied it when defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov drifted down to the slot area and deflected in a shot by his defense partner, Adam Fox, at 15:19 for his third goal of the season.

Artemi Panarin’s breakaway goal gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 8:07 of the second period. Goalie Karel Vejmelka initially saved his shot but didn’t have control of the puck. As he backed up into the goal, it fell out and crossed the goal line.

Utah tied it at 11:14 on a goal by Clayton Keller that needed video replay to be confirmed.

Utah’s Kailer Yamamoto picked off a clearing attempt by the Rangers’ Scott Morrow, and his shot was saved by Quick. Keller lifted the rebound up into the top of the net, but it went in and out so quickly that the referees missed it, thinking it had hit the crossbar.

At the first stoppage, the play was reviewed. The puck clearly had gone in, hit the back bar and bounced out, so the goal was awarded.

The game was the fourth straight in which the Rangers were outshot (34-22). Mika Zibanejad said the Rangers have to get back to the way they were playing earlier in the season.

“We’ve got to find a way to start creating chances again,’’ he said. “I think we did that for the first part of the season. We were creating chances, just not finishing them off. Right now, I feel like we’re not getting as many chances as we would like.’’

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.