(My Sportsbook) - The New York Rangers played quite possibly the best team in the NHL hard for 40 minutes on Monday before inevitably dropping a 5-2 decision to the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden.

So what else is new?

The high-priced Rangers, whose offseason expectations were exceeded only by their lofty payroll, dropped to 0-3-2 in their last five at MSG and are a miserable 1-6-2 in the last nine on Broadway, while being outscored 31-15 in that time.

The team is 3-9-2-1 in its last 15 overall, has fallen six games under .500 and seems almost a lock to miss out on the postseason for a franchise- record sixth straight season.

"Coming in, we knew we were going to need to play a near-perfect game defensively," center Eric Lindros said. "It's frustrating. We've got one period to go. We tied it up, we're at home, and the wheels fell off. That's the most frustrating part of it all."

Mark Messier gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead on a power play, scoring his 13th of the season at 6:20 of the first period, but Marian Hossa tied it with his first of the game just over three minutes later.

The Senators went in front at 4:54 of the second when Todd White scored from in front off a feed from Schastlivy.

Bobby Holik netted his fifth with just 1:28 left in the stanza to tie it for New York. Matthew Barnaby rifled a shot from the top of the right circle and the rebound hit an onrushing Holik in front of the crease before going into the net.

Ottawa then put the game away in the third period against a banged-up Rangers squad with three unanswered tallies.

"It was 2-2 at the beginning of the third and we gave them a rebound power- play goal," said goaltender Mike Dunham, who made 31 saves. "It just kind of fell apart from there."

To make matters worse for the Blueshirts, the team lost both Ronald Petrovicky (ankle) and Gordie Dwyer (hamstring) to injuries, as both joined a cast of wounded for the Rangers that already includes superstars Pavel Bure, Mike Richter, Brian Leetch, as well as Petr Nedved, Dale Purinton, Rico Fata and Sylvain Lefebvre.

"It seems to be getting to be a bit of a broken record around here when you're talking about injuries," Lindros said. "But the fact remains that we have to keep playing through it."

WHAT'S AHEAD

The Rangers begin a stretch of three games in four nights on Wednesday with a contest against the Carolina Hurricanes at MSG. The team will then head to Montreal on Thursday and close a brief two-game road swing in Pittsburgh on Saturday.