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The Rangers fumbled a pivotal weekend.

It’s been over two months of scratching and clawing their way back into playoff contention, only for the Blueshirts to lose 7-3 to Columbus on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden as part of an 0-1-1 effort in a crucial back-to-back slate this weekend with major implications in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.

Not once, but twice the Rangers whiffed on a chance to step into the top wild-card spot in the East, after they blew a two-goal lead in the third period in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Senators Saturday afternoon in Ottawa.

They finish the weekend on the outside looking in on the playoff picture, sitting a point out of the cutoff line.

Opportunities for considerable swings in the standings will only be fewer and farther between now.

“It came in different ways against us tonight,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “We either get beat, the coverage broke down or it bounces in a different direction or we have somebody fall and the coverage breaks down and goes to odd-man numbers down in our zone. It was different reasons, every goal was a different scenario.

“At the end of the day, it’s not good enough. We gave up chances that were big and right in front of our net and that can’t happen.”

Columbus met this moment, picking up its first win over the Rangers this season to leapfrog the Senators into the first wild-card.

These two teams will meet again for a final time this regular season in less than a week on March 15 back at the Garden.

The Rangers, on the other hand, could not have botched the opportunity they had at hand more.

Not only did they only pick up a single point, but they were outscored 11-4 at even strength over the two games.

Sunday night also counted as the fourth time the Rangers have given up seven goals or more this season.

Adam Fantilli’s hat trick played an integral role in powering the Blue Jackets to victory, but the Rangers were wide-open defensively.

The Rangers didn’t put up much resistance as Zach Werenski danced through their zone and dished to Justin Danforth for the first goal of the game less than six minutes in.

Artemi Panarin later got a stick on an Alexis Lafrenière shot, tying his goal-scoring streak of five games and tying the game up 1-1 with 29 seconds left in the period.

Most of the action unfolded in a six-goal second period, with the Rangers falling behind by two, tying it up and then falling behind by two again by its end.

Two goals from Fantilli in the span of 24 seconds exposed the Blueshirts and how prone they are to defensive breakdowns.

After scoring off the rush in the aftermath of Will Borgen’s stick breaking, Fantilli was left all alone in front of the net as several Rangers chased the puck below the goal line.

Getting outplayed five-on-five, the Rangers made their push shorthanded.

With Will Cuylle in the box for holding, Columbus couldn’t gain control before Braden Schneider wristed one home from the right faceoff circle.

Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider then stood up at the blue line to send the puck the other way with no one in front of them.

The two longest-tenured Rangers passed it back and forth before Kreider buried it for the 3-3 score, giving the home team two shorthanded goals in the span of 42 seconds.

It was the first time the Rangers scored two shorthanded goals while killing the same penalty since March 5, 2014.

The two quick goals brought Madison Square Garden back to life, but it was quickly quieted when play returned to five-on-five.

“It was a great PK, generated a lot of energy and momentum in the building,” K’Andre Miller said. “Just kind of left it at that.”

Mathieu Olivier first redirected a Werenski feed past Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick before Dante Fabbro whipped one in from the high slot.

The two goals in the span of 1:44 had the Rangers trailing 5-3 entering the third period.

If the way the second period ended didn’t take the air out of the Garden, an own goal by Zac Jones just over halfway through the third period certainly did.

Attempting to glove down a puck that bounced in the air, Jones inadvertently guided it over Quick to give the Blue Jackets a 6-3 lead.

This before Fantilli completed the hat trick and capped the scoring with a goal from all alone in the slot.

“You’ve got to move on,” Laviolette said. “We’ll watch it, we’ll get better. We’ve got to get back to work. We’re stilling sitting here I think a point outside of the wild card. We’ve got to win a hockey game. We’re heading out on a road trip, we’ve got to win games. It didn’t go our way, it is frustrating, we’re disappointed we didn’t play better. We’ve got to go back to work.”