Rangers need to bring their winning formula on the road to Madison Square Garden

First, a disclaimer: Finding out late in the day that head coach Mike Sullivan would not be behind the bench for their game Sunday night at the Garden against the Detroit Red Wings was clearly a curveball for the Rangers’ players, something they had to adjust to.

And yes, it was the second night of a back-to-back set, and it followed a game that had gone to a shootout the night before.

But neither of those things could explain why the Rangers were outshot, 42-19, in their own building in a 2-1 loss that was only that close because goaltender Jonathan Quick was magnificent. Nor could they explain why the Rangers, who impressively are 9-1-1 away from home this season, are 1-7-1 at Madison Square Garden.

This wild disparity between their results on the road, versus at home is just plain weird. Inexplicable, really. How can the Rangers (10-8-2) be so bad at home, and so good on the road?

“I didn't think we were as energetic as we were last night,’’ assistant coach David Quinn, who spoke to the media in Sullivan’s place after the game Sunday, said. “Maybe it was the back-to-back, but [Detroit] played back-to-back as well. I know they lost a tough one [5-4 in overtime to Buffalo Saturday] night. But I just think we were a little bit more inconsistent tonight than we were on the road over the last two games.’’

“Today wasn’t good enough,’’ captain J.T. Miller said bluntly, dismissing the back-to-back question. “They outplayed us. If it wasn’t for Quickie, that game could have been wide open.’’

Whatever the Rangers are doing better on the road – or not doing as well at home – they had better figure it out. Though they have won six straight games away from home, expecting to continue to win away from at the pace they’ve set so far doesn’t seem sustainable.

For now, they will hope it continues a little longer, as they left Monday for a three-game trip this week to Vegas, Colorado and Utah. It was unknown whether Sullivan would be with them – the team did not practice Tuesday before leaving and did not announce whether he would – but regardless, they’ll want to come back from that trip with more points, to keep themselves in the playoff race. They began Tuesday tied for a wild card spot, but below the cutoff line, based on points percentage.

If they want to stay in the race, though, a good road record isn’t going to be enough. They’re going to have to find a way to get better at home, and soon, or they won’t be going anywhere this season.

They’re 20 games into the season now, a quarter of the way done. So they can’t keep leaning on the argument that it’s a small sample size, and things are bound to correct themselves – they have to find a way to correct things.

Defenseman Adam Fox insists the team is still feeling good about itself overall, though.

“We’re almost a fourth of the way through, so obviously a little more than a small sample size,’’ Fox said after Sunday’s loss. “But I think we feel good. We tried to stay the course, even when things weren't going our way at the start of the year. I thought we're playing good hockey, and not getting rewarded for it, but recently, we've kind of got a little bit more reward for it. So I'm just trying to stay that course.’’

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.