The last couple of weeks had mirrored October, the Rangers winning steadily on the backs of their goaltenders despite 200-by-85 foot performances that were too often insufficient and uninspiring.

But not this time. Not on Sunday afternoon at the Garden when and where there was neither enough smoke nor enough mirrors to camouflage a presentation against the Penguins that was about 45 minutes shy of satisfactory.

There were too many turnovers and lost battles. There were too many times when the Rangers were a step behind. There wasn’t enough discipline. And on this afternoon, Henrik Lundqvist was unable to pick up the slack.

“It’s the same stuff that’s been giving us fits all year in spurts,” Chris Kreider told The Post after the 5-3 defeat to the Penguins that left the Blueshirts with their first two-game losing streak (0-1-1) since mid-December. “We couldn’t break out of our zone together, couldn’t come through the neutral zone and so we couldn’t get in on our forecheck and establish puck possession.

“When we struggle, more often than not this has been the reason,” said No. 20, who scored his fifth goal in eight games on a first-period power-play deflection to tie the game 1-1. “We can’t be throwing the puck off the glass like we did in Detroit [in Saturday’s 3-2 OT defeat] and chasing the game.

“Details and nuance,” he said. “Maybe it’s the forwards not getting back and supporting the defense. Maybe it’s the defense not executing on the breakout. Maybe it’s Hank letting in one or two he’d like to get back.

“It’s on all of us.”

Kreider is correct: Puck possession has been an issue throughout. The transition game that keyed the Blueshirts’ speed game the first two years of Alain Vigneault’s reign has been wanting pretty much all season. Breakouts break down. The Rangers spend too much time chasing.

Get this: The Blueshirts’ five-on-five Corsi of 47.5 percent is not only 24th in the NHL, but dead last among current playoff qualifiers. One doesn’t have to be an analytics true believer to derive meaning from that stat.

Vigneault isn’t much for benching, but a week after sitting J.T. Miller against the Islanders, this time it was Dom Moore’s and Kevin Hayes’ turn as the coach cut down to three lines for the third period. Oscar Lindberg got one shift the final 15:35 after filling in for Kreider while the winger served a fighting major off of the final period’s opening draw.

“I just felt that going to a three-line rotation might give us more jump,” Vigneault said. “It’s not something I do very often, especially in a back-to-back situation, but I was trying to get us to play quicker, like we did in the first period.”

The Rangers were indeed dominant over the first 12-to-15 minutes, owning the puck, scooting through the neutral zone, firing pucks on Marc-Andre Fleury while driving to the net to create traffic and sniff for rebounds. But the Pittsburgh netminder excelled as the Blueshirts built a 13-3 advantage in shots over the first 10:42.

And when Patric Hornqvist put one in off Lundqvist’s back at 11:56 from below the goal line jumping on a rebound off Sidney Crosby — by leaps and bounds the best player on the ice — the Penguins not only had a 1-0 lead but had negated the Rangers’ equilibrium. The Blueshirts mustered eight shots on Fleury in 33:08 following the opening goal.

“We wanted to come out strong and we did, but they took all the momentum away from us as soon as they scored,” said Rick Nash, still off on his timing and who was stopped on a breakaway at 5:36 of the third with the match even at 3-3. “I can’t put my finger on why that happened, but we can’t allow it.”

The Penguins, who entered with only a two-point hold on the final playoff spot, had more at stake than the Rangers, whose own hold on second place and first-round home-ice advantage is looking mighty tenuous, the lead over the Islanders only three points with Brooklyn owning three games in hand.

Desperation aside, however, the Penguins’ bottom-six forwards account for a combined $5.295 million in payroll, with $2 million of that going to Eric Fehr. Matt Cullen, at $800,000, got the winner banking one in from behind off Marc Staal’s skates at 11:09 of the third after evading Derick Brassard’s halfhearted attempt at a check. Conor Sheary, at $575,000, scored twice. Bryan Rust, at $655,000, beat Dan Boyle (minus-4) down the ice to negate an icing before Crosby’s empty-netter iced it.

So now onto three games in California for the Rangers, who will need to pack lots and lots of mirrors if they’re going to play like this.