Rangers dig early hole, Igor Shesterkin allows 6 goals in loss to Maple Leafs

For the first 20 minutes Tuesday, the Rangers couldn’t have looked any worse than they did against the run-and-gun Toronto Maple Leafs. Then, for the second 20 minutes, the Rangers turned it completely around and looked like a team that could do no wrong.

In the final 20 minutes, though, the Rangers, who were without defenseman K’Andre Miller, unavailable to play because of what the team said were “personal reasons,’’ found that the three-goal hole they’d dug for themselves was too deep, and they couldn’t escape it.

Two goals each by Auston Matthews and Mitchell Marner were more than enough to offset two by Blake Wheeler in the Rangers’ 7-3 loss at Madison Square Garden.

The loss was the Rangers’ third in four games as they fell to 19-7-1.

Goaltender Igor Shesterkin has been in the nets for each of those losses, and saw his record fall to 10-7 on the season. He made 23 saves but allowed six goals and was bested by Toronto’s Martin Jones, who is replacing injured No. 1 goalie Joseph Woll. Jones made 28 saves to earn his second victory in as many starts.

At the Rangers’ morning skate, coach Peter Laviolette was asked whether he was hoping to get more from Shesterkin, who had given up nine goals in his previous two starts in losses at Ottawa and Washington.

“I want to see more from our team from the way that we play the game,’’ Laviolette said. “In Ottawa, I thought that we were pressing and pushing to win a hockey game. We just left ourselves exposed. By leaving ourselves exposed, we left our goaltender exposed. The next game after that (at Washington), I just don’t think we played very well. And so we came back last game (against L.A. on Sunday), we got back on track as a team. I’d like to see our team play a good hockey game.’’

He didn’t get to see it in the first period. Toronto (15-6-5) struck first when, with a delayed penalty in effect, William Nylander skated through the Rangers’ 1-3-1 trap, walking past Erik Gustafsson, and splitting Wheeler and Vincent Trocheck to create a two-on-one with Auston Matthews against Jacob Trouba. Nylander passed to Matthews, who shoveled a shot past Shesterkin at 3:52 for his 20th goal of the season, the most in the league.

Defenseman Conor Timmins made it 2-0, with his first goal of the season, at 5:07, beating Shesterkin with a shot from the right point that the goalie appeared not to see.

Wheeler got one back for the Rangers with his first goal at 5:42, but goals 21 seconds apart by Calle Jarnkrok and Marner put the Leafs ahead 4-1 at 15:41.

But the Rangers turned things around in the second period, dominating possession and creating some high-quality scoring chances. Finally, with Timmins in the box for a hooking penalty, Mika Zibanejad fired a sharp-angle one-timer past Jones to pull the Rangers within 4-2 at 16:30. Artemi Panarin, who passed to Zibanejad when the crowd was urging him to shoot, earned his 700th career point on the assist.

Then, at 18:26, Wheeler took a pass from Zibanejad on a rush and beat Jones with a shot from the wing for his second goal, pulling the Rangers within 4-3. Trouba earned the second assist on the goal, giving him his 300th career point.

At the morning skate, Laviolette declined to say when he found out that Miller would not be available. He also passed when asked if he had any indication whether the 6-5 defenseman might miss more than one game.

“Right now, it’s just personal reasons for ‘Key,’’’ he said. “We’ll just keep it at that.’’

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.