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OTTAWA — Maybe the Rangers thought they had clinched a playoff spot by defeating Dominik Hasek in Buffalo on Friday. Maybe that’s why they seemed so unprepared for the Senators here last night.

Because just 24 hours after one of their impressive victories of the season, the Rangers came up with one of their least impressive performances of a year dotted with disappointments, and were thus overwhelmed 4-2 here last night by the Senators.

Overwhelmed losing 4-2? Yes; overwhelmed losing 4-2 while surrendering 23 shots on goal in the first period, 47 for the match.

“I’ll just say that if Mike Richter hadn’t been as sensational as he was it could have been a lot more embarrassing,” Adam Graves said. “You know, we really haven’t won that many big games the last few seasons, and then to have won such a big one [Friday] only to come out the way we did in this one, it’s very upsetting.”

John Muckler was upset; upset generally with his team and specifically with Alexandre Daigle, whom he benched after a first period in which the center seemed just another struggling Ranger. Daigle received just 3:53 of ice on five shifts, Muckler choosing to insert either Petr Nedved or Tim Taylor between John MacLean and Valeri Kamensky throughout the final 40 minutes.

“Obviously I didn’t think he played well and that’s all I want to say about it,” Muckler said. “I’m not going to address the problem with his play in public. I’ll address that one-on-one.”

Daigle, who had scored the winner on Friday night, his first goal in nine games, seemed shaken by the benching, coming as it did in front of his family, who traveled to the game from their Montreal homes. He said that Muckler had not spoken to him, either during or after the match.

“I’m not too happy, but I’m not the coach and I’m not in position to make any decisions,” he said. “They had 23 shots in the first period, so I think everybody … we didn’t play well. I guess he didn’t like the way I played.

“Was it fair? When it happens to you, it’s always unfair.”

What happened to the Rangers is that they were dramatically outskated by an Ottawa team that swept them in the four-game season series. They were beaten to the puck all over the ice, made to look foolish at times in their defensive zone, certainly in their down-low coverage that’s become a problem the last three weeks or so. What happened to the Rangers is they blew a chance to open a five-point gap on the Sabres, who lost last night in Toronto, and to build a six-point cushion on Montreal, who lost at home to the Caps.

“At this point in the season you can’t get too high or too low after a game, but I thought we were too high after beating the Sabres,” said Mathieu Schneider. “I had the feeling we thought it was going to come too easily.”

The Rangers did manage to take a 1-0 lead at 4:05 of the first on Radek Dvorak’s conversion of Petr Nedved’s gorgeous feed. But they were behind 2-1 by the 12:35 mark on a pair of Daniel Alfredsson scores from around the net. They tied the game at 9:46 of the second on Nedved’s right-circle whistler past Patrick Lalime, managing somehow to go into the third at 2-2. But justice prevailed with Shaun Van Allen scoring from just outside the crease at 2:32 before Radek Bonk clinched it off a two-on-one at 15:56. The Rangers had created little and allowed way too much.

“We were flat-out outskated in every zone,” said Brian Leetch. “They got to the puck everywhere, they had five guys always anticipating. We didn’t do any initiation. We just followed them all over the ice.”

In going 3-6-2 since the All-Star break, the Rangers have scored 28 goals, with the Czechmates accounting for fully half of them, Nedved and Jan Hlavac recording five apiece, Dvorak getting four. The Mike York (3)-Theo Fleury (2)-Graves (1) combination has scored six times. What has been Daigle’s unit has scored four (Daigle and MacLean one apiece, Kamensky two, though none in the last eight). The Taylor-Eric Lacroix-Mike Knuble line hasn’t scored in 16 games, since Jan. 25. The defense has accounted for four goals since the break.

With Richter providing such a strong game, all the Rangers needed last night was an honest effort. All they needed was to show up with a sense of urgency.

Instead, they brought neither of the above. Which explains why, with 18 games to go, the Rangers are no sure thing to make the playoffs.

No sure thing at all.