(My Sportsbook) - Mark Messier has been called the greatest team leader in the history of North American sports. If the Rangers are going to get out of this early season funk that they are in, they are going to need all the leadership their 41-year-old captain can provide.

New York dropped a 4-2 decision to the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday at Madison Square Garden. It was not the fact that the team lost, it was the way they lost that caused the Garden faithful to boo their team off the ice for the second consecutive game.

The Rangers are now winless in their last three (0-2-1) and have looked miserable in that stretch.

"It's one thing to get beat; that happens," Messier said after last night's loss. "It's another thing to beat yourselves. You have to come ready to play, to compete, to perform; it's your responsibility to do that."

The high-priced superstars the team brought in to return the Rangers to the postseason for the first time since the 1996-97 campaign have been huge disappointments thus far. Bobby Holik has looked clueless on the ice and Darius Kasparaitis' play has been atrocious.

Kasparaitis, who was on for three of the four goals last night, has been on the ice for 17 of the 25 goals allowed by the Rangers this season, and is playing at an impossible minus-seven.

"I am questioning myself and I think so is the team," Kasparaitis said. "There's something missing from one shift to the next, where we can have a great shift and right away the worst shift. We are not happy with our performance."

Messier gave his team a 2-1 lead early in the second period with a power-play tally, his third of the season. However, from there the wheels came off, as New York gave the Lightning six power play opportunities the rest of the stanza and went into the final 20 minutes trailing by a goal.

"We had a decent game going, but you just can't take the penalties we took tonight - undisciplined penalties - and expect to win," Messier said. "And we didn't generate anything the other way to create calls on our side."

Mike Richter replaced young Dan Blackburn, who has struggled miserably in his last two starts, to start the third, but it did not matter as Tampa rolled to a 4-2 victory. a 4-2 victory.

"It's tough to play well when you put yourselves down at key moments in the game," said Holik. "We are taking momentum away from ourselves with those penalties."

Messier called a team meeting after the game. Now is the time to nip this problem in the bud. How this team responds could go a long way in determining problem in the bud. How this team responds could go a long way in determining the final outcome of this current regime, which features rookie NHL head coach Bryan Trottier.

"Whether it's the seventh game, 47th game or 80th game, I think it's important that you make sure everyone understands the situation," said Messier. "And by situation, I mean that even though you know you're not going to play well every night, we just don't have a lot of games to give away."

WHAT'S NEXT

The Rangers hope to get back on the winning track on Wednesday when they continue their four-game homestand with the Washington Capitals. New York will wrap up the set on Friday versus the LA Kings.