The last two games would have to give anyone pause about the Rangers’ prospects for postseason success. For it is not just that the Blueshirts lost potential playoff clinchers to also-rans Carolina and Buffalo, it’s the way they lost the games that is so disturbing.

Fact is, the Rangers lost them the way they have lost so many games through this unsatisfying season that continues with another potential clincher against the Blue Jackets on Monday. They lost the first after a bad start and then the inability to protect a third-period lead. They lost the next one with a bad start. Oh, and both with the requisite bundle of goals-against scored from in front.

And they lost them both because of chaotic play in their own zone that highlighted — or, perhaps more to the point, lowlighted — blown coverages and confused breakout attempts that invariably devolved into chasing, chipping and changing. The Rangers aren’t a bad possession team because they have bad Corsi numbers; they have bad Corsi numbers because they’re forever scrambling in their own end.

The Rangers’ ability to transition quickly from defense to offense that was the hallmark of their up-tempo, speed game in Alain Vigneault’s first two seasons behind the bench has broken down into chaos. The Blueshirts look mechanical and slow. The attempted first pass invariably leads to a second and a third try at making a play before the puck is chopped out. And when attempting to defend, the Rangers present no physical element whatsoever.

This is a recommendation almost certainly made in vain, but Dylan McIlrath should go in on the blue line for every one of the remaining four games; two for Dan Girardi and two for Dan Boyle. To say it is time is akin to saying it is time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup.

Vigneault’s refusal to give McIlrath a fair look and include him in a steady rotation on the back end represents the coach’s greatest failure of the season. McIlrath somehow has played just seven games when all “top six” defensemen were available, excluding the one in which he tried to play right wing. He replaced Boyle — who at 39 has played all 29 games since the All-Star break and 53 of 54 since Nov. 30 — in each of those seven.

McIlrath, who has been a healthy scratch the last two games after missing the previous 10 with the right knee injury he sustained March 6, doesn’t just add a physical element. In his limited exposure of 31 games, McIlrath has demonstrated the ability to execute the crisp, short first pass that Girardi in particular has struggled with right from the get-go. And the rookie has been effective at the other end, getting the puck through regularly on shots from the top.

Vigneault may not see it in McIlrath. Or maybe the coach cannot see past his loyalty to veterans in Girardi and Boyle who have done it before, though the latter did it for Tampa Bay and San Jose before arriving on Broadway last year.

But even Vigneault — and assistant in charge of the defense, Ulf Samuelsson — can’t be blind to the club’s ongoing struggles in its own end on both sides of the puck.

Can they?

A week ago, it appeared as if the Rangers had gained some traction. But they’ve slipped back again, as they have throughout the season. Maybe it’s the grind, the cumulative toll of those 76 playoff games the last four springs.

Maybe the Rangers can’t rev it up for these late-season games that still pale in importance to the ones the club will begin playing — and they will begin playing them, no? — a week from Wednesday or Thursday when the playoffs commence. Maybe they will turn it up and turn it on then for 60 minutes at a time (or more).

But this current three-game losing streak (0-2-1) that began with last Sunday’s overtime defeat by the Penguins is disturbing. Fact is, the Blueshirts have won just four of their last 11 (4-4-3) games and just seven of 16 since (7-6-3) since the trade deadline.

Fact is, the defensive zone has resembled a toxic waste dump most of the year. The team’s perceived strength has been its most glaring weakness. Little has changed from the start to this near finish, including the way the head coach deploys his personnel.

Maybe a change to McIlrath would help a little. It sure couldn’t hurt.