LOS ANGELES — Regret was strewn all over the ice at Staples Center, left in a mess along with some tidbits of good, coming together to form a chaotic tapestry that now leaves the Rangers in a desperate position.

In what was a wonderfully entertaining and gut-wrenching contest, the end result on Saturday was horrible disappointment for the Blueshirts, a 5-4 double-overtime loss to the Kings in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals.

It was the second straight overtime loss to open the Rangers’ first Cup final in 20 years, and the second straight game the Rangers have blown a two-goal lead — a margin they held on three separate occasions, up 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2.

And finally, when Kings captain Dustin Brown tipped in a Willie Mitchell point shot, 10:26 into the second extra frame, the puck went under the left arm of Henrik Lundqvist and sent the Rangers home reeling for Game 3 on Monday night at the Garden, a game that now borders into the territory of must-win.

“A couple crazy bounces, a couple crazy plays,” forward Chris Kreider said. “Stuff goes in for them, stuff doesn’t go in for us. It’s hockey — it’s not always fair.”

The 2-0 series hole is not something the Rangers had faced this postseason, but it’s not an insurmountable task, already having come back from a 3-1 deficit against the Penguins in the second round. But if something has been made clear through the first two games of this series, it’s that the Rangers have not faced any team even remotely close to the caliber and resiliency of the Kings.

“We played well,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “They’re a good team. We had some looks in overtime, just couldn’t score.”

The first overtime was a wild affair, with Kreider hitting the left post with 11:50 remaining, and getting denied by Jonathan Quick on a breakaway seven minutes later — sandwiching a gaping net that was missed high by Mats Zuccarello.

“We blew another two-goal lead, we lost in double-overtime, I had two Grade-A opportunities to put it away and didn’t finish,” said Kreider. “So I have to execute better. That’s my takeaway.

“It’s difficult to think about 20-30 minutes after the game,” he continued, “but it’s on to the next one.”

What was seemingly the toughest pill to swallow was how the game turned early in the third period. The Rangers were leading, 4-2, pushing back in equal measure whenever the Kings had made a run at them.

But 1:58 in, Dwight King got into a battle in front with Ryan McDonagh, and eventually King tumbled into Lundqvist, pushing him off his mark and allowing a long wrist shot from Matt Greene to deflect off King and in, cutting the Rangers’ lead to 4-3 and drawing the passionate ire of Lundqvist both on the ice and in the locker room after.

“We gave them so much life with that third goal,” Lundqvist said. That’s hockey. One play can change everything.”

That turning point also allowed former Ranger Marian Gaborik to sweep in and play the role of expected game-changer, taking advantage of a McDonagh miscue — a rare down moment in the midst of a tremendous game — to tie the game, 4-4, with 7:36 gone by in the third.

“They come out flying in the third, and it was 10-12 minutes where they put some pressure on us,” defenseman Marc Staal said. “They’re a team that capitalizes on their opportunities.”

Now the Kings are a team two wins away from their second Stanley Cup in the past three years. The Rangers — well, people were calling them underdogs when they came in, and now it’s even more so.

Their take?

“I don’t give a sh– about underdogs. That’s ridiculous,” forward Brian Boyle said. “We’re here to win. Doesn’t matter how we do it.”