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After consecutive 3-0 losses at Ottawa and at Montreal, they are barely clinging to the eighth, and final, Eastern Conference playoff spot. They will host the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night before meeting the Pittsburgh Penguins — winners of 15 straight games — in a home-and-home series. The Rangers (16-15-3) are a combined 0-5 against the Jets and the Penguins and are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games.

On top of the Rangers’ daunting schedule, the N.H.L. trading deadline looms at 3 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. Like many teams in this lockout-shortened 48-game season, the Rangers may not decide whether to be buyers or sellers until that afternoon.

The Rangers practiced for 45 minutes Sunday. Afterward, players said their confidence had not eroded, but they expressed a need for desperation on the ice in their 14 remaining games.

“We have to start winning; it’s as simple as that,” said goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who watched as the backup Martin Biron played in Saturday’s loss at Montreal.

The Rangers, led by Rick Nash with 12 goals and 16 assists, have a league-low 75 goals through 34 games. (They have also been credited with three goals as a team for shootout victories.) The Rangers have struggled on the power play all season, and their usually stout penalty-killing corps has also been under siege, allowing power-play goals to the opposition in six straight games.

The Rangers have not scored in 127 minutes 47 seconds, since Chris Kreider’s goal midway through Tuesday’s 5-2 win at Philadelphia.

“We’re just not finishing,” Coach John Tortorella said. “We had a number of good chances against Montreal. We worked hard. We are going to continue to go about our business. Our attitude is good.”

Marian Gaborik has played a part in the team’s offensive woes. Gaborik, 31, scored 41 goals last season and has 333 in his career, but he has only nine this season and has scored just once since his overtime winner against the Islanders on March 7.

Gaborik’s erratic production has perplexed Tortorella for much of his tenure. Tortorella has benched Gaborik at times and against Montreal started him on the fourth line with Taylor Pyatt and Kris Newbury. Gaborik had a breakaway early in the game but was denied by goaltender Carey Price.

“If Gabby scores on that breakaway, it changes the whole complexion of the game,” said Tortorella, who moved Gaborik off the fourth line after several shifts. “We have to just keep working. Hopefully, we will bang something in to relieve the pressure and build from there.”

The Rangers’ captain, Ryan Callahan, says his frustrated teammates need to take a deep breath.

“We can still climb up the standings in a hurry if we play our style and win games,” he said. “We know that every game is going to be intense at this stage of the season. We’re glad to be home with a chance to get back on the right track.”

Callahan also addressed another potential distraction for the Rangers. After the loss at Montreal, the former Rangers agitator Sean Avery took to Twitter to criticize his former coach.

“Fire this CLOWN, his players hate him,” Avery posted.

An outspoken forward during two stints with the Rangers, Avery never meshed with Tortorella. The team sent him to Connecticut of the American Hockey League last season after he played only 15 games, and he is now working for a Manhattan advertising agency.

“Sean Avery’s comments solely represent his own thoughts and opinions,” Callahan said in a statement on behalf of the Rangers. “He did not speak for us as a team when he was here and certainly does not now.”

The Rangers said players and coaches would not comment further on Avery’s remarks.

Six teams are uncomfortably close to their precarious playoff perch, and the Rangers are 4-12-1 against the seven teams ahead of them in the conference standings.

The Islanders are tied with the Rangers for eighth (35 points) while Carolina and Washington are a point behind, Philadelphia is 2 back, and Buffalo is 3 behind. Even struggling Tampa Bay is in striking distance, just 4 points back.

The Rangers added an offensive weapon in Nash for this season and, in addition to Gaborik’s latent offensive prowess, have the playmaker Brad Richards. The team led the conference with 109 points last season, so the fact that the Rangers are fighting to make the playoffs has Lundqvist wondering what the solution might be.

“We’re a tough read this year,” he said. “I think you just have to focus on your game and what you can control. You can’t overthink and try to do too much. Everyone has to do their job.”