With less than a week to go until the start of the regular season for the Rangers, this much seems true: Their defense is ahead of their offense so far under new head coach Peter Laviolette.

That much was apparent Thursday as the Blueshirts fell, 3-1, to the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden in their preseason finale. They could not hold an early lead and, even as they outshot the Bruins, 23-15, they whiffed on all five of their power-play chances, including one four-minute advantage that felt like, well, an ice age.

“Just trying to click on the offense and generate a little bit more, create a little bit more,” said Laviolette, whose team finished the preseason schedule 1-5.

To be clear, the power play clanged three shots off iron Thursday, hitting the post twice and the crossbar once. Any puck luck there might have changed the feeling about the offense’s play, at least for one night, though Laviolette had said following Wednesday's loss to the Devils that he was hoping the offense would percolate more.

“I think that, defensively, there were a lot of good things that happened in the last two games,” Laviolette said. “But then offensively, there's still time to keep pushing. Establish that identity in the offensive zone. It hasn't been something that you're just noticing all the time, where we're in there and we're pounding down in the offensive zone. That's not there yet.

“We need to get there.”

One bright spot Thursday on offense: Kaapo Kakko, who scored the Rangers’ goal on even strength at the 10:14 mark of the first period. He created several other chances, too, playing on a line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, a combo that Laviolette wanted to get a look at.

“It’s easy to play with them,” Kakko said. “I mean, we’ve been playing together last season – before that, also. I think we played some real good games last year. So I felt good with them. I think we got some good chances, also. Still need to be better by the first game, together.”

Laviolette was mostly pleased by the defense. The Bruins had just one shot on goal in the first period and their final goal was an empty-netter as the Rangers were pushing late to tie the score.

It wasn’t all clean, though. The Bruins’ second goal, which gave them the lead for good, came when Matthew Poitras was alone in front of Igor Shesterkin and converted a pass from behind the net. “We had people in place, we didn’t defend it very well,” Laviolette said.

Still, the coach added, the defense was “tight. It was good.”

Jacob Trouba agreed. “I think the last two games, defensively, weren’t all that horrible,” the captain noted. “Scores might tell a different story, but with what we’re trying to do, I think we’re heading in the right direction.

“A lot of things have changed, system-wise, and obviously there are a lot of changes around here with personnel,” Trouba added. “So it’s good to kind of get comfortable. You’re not going to flip a switch and it’s going to be magic. I think it takes time to build that trust and those reads and where guys are going. The communication is a little bit different.

“I think it’s trending in the right direction.”

There’s still time for all phases to get ready for the season – between now and their opener, Oct 12. in Buffalo, the Rangers have plenty of practice time.

So training camp “is not over yet,” as Trouba put it.

“We’ve still got a week to kind of keep building what we want to do,” he said. “I think we’ll probably get more into special teams. I think that’s an area we can improve on.”

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