The Rangers continue to unravel with shutout loss to the Hurricanes

The Artemi Panarin trade has completely taken what was left of the intrigue and energy out of the park.

With the Panarin saga finally coming to an end His trade to kingsthe Rangers played their final game before the NHL break for the Winter Olympics — and a roster freeze at the corresponding league level — knowing that their breakout season would eventually resume with more work for GM Chris Drury to do to retool the roster for 2026-2027 and beyond.

That final pre-Olympic game Thursday night represented nothing but more of the same for the battered Blueshirts, as they fell for a fourth straight game without Panarin with a 2-0 loss to the Hurricanes at the Garden.

It was the ninth time they’ve been shut out this season and, inexplicably, the seventh time on home ice.

The formerly last-place Rangers played without Panarin while their leading scorer was left out of the lineup in two losses to the Islanders last week and another to the Penguins before Wednesday’s trade.

“Well, I think the final order has finally arrived,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said when asked about Panarin’s official departure before the game. “Sometimes the anxiety of uncertainty is more difficult to deal with than the resolution of it. Everyone can move forward.”

Panarin, who signed a two-year, $22 million contract extension with Los Angeles to bypass unrestricted free agency this summer, was dealt potential rookie forward Liam Greentree and at least one conditional third-round draft pick, depending on Los Angeles’ postseason success.

Sullivan said he wished the 34-year-old Panarin “the best” in a conversation after the deal was announced on Wednesday night.

He added that he has “already addressed the circumstances” of potential additional trades with his team, which is now mired in a 3-13-2 mess to fall to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings at 22-29-6 overall.

“It’s not ‘easy,’ because obviously we’re all in this to win,” Sullivan said. “We’re all set up to try to win. It’s a competitive league, it’s a competitive environment, we’re all competitive and we want to win. So when you don’t have the ability to put one of your best players in the lineup, it doesn’t help your chances.”

“But I also understand that this is just the reality of the circumstances, and it’s part of where we are right now. It’s my job to coach the players I have available every night, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The 20-year-old Greentree is set to finish his current season with OHL Windsor, and the Rangers will continue to fill the hole left by Panarin, their leading scorer, on the interior. Will Cuylle has mostly skated in place the past several games alongside center Vincent Trocheck.

“You know we’re not going to sign a player that’s going to replace what Artemi does for this team,” Sullivan said. “I think what we’re trying to do is build a team game where we can replace it by committee, so to speak. I think we can do a better job of playing against tougher players, giving up fewer chances on the defensive side, which should give us an opportunity to create some offense out of that. But we’re not taking anyone in and saying, ‘Hey, you’re going to replace what Artemi brought to this group.’ “That would be unfair.”

Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov gathered on a failed clearance attempt by Vladislav Gavrikov and opened the scoring with a shot from the slot past Quick for a 1-0 lead at 6:26 of the game.

Mika Zibanejad had a chance on the power play later in the period, but he shot the ball off the crossbar behind Carolina goaltender Brandon Posey (16 saves).

Quick put down 42 points overall to keep the Rangers within one goal despite a variation of off-balance shots, before Jordan Staal added an empty-netter in the final minute.