Playing regularly helped Oscar Lindberg find his game

Somehow every year this game tricks us into forgetting that each season consists of 82 games and will without fail feature peaks and valleys in both performance and results.

The 2016-2017 campaign has been no different for the Blueshirts, who came out of the gate like gangbusters – scoring at an unprecedented rate and looking very capable of making another run despite pessimistic preseason predictions by most pundits.

Then, the offense dried up, the luck ran out, injuries struck and the usual all-world goaltending became suddenly average.

New York hit a rough patch as all teams do – yet the Rangers came out the other side still tied for first place and having learned some vital lessons along the way.

As Larry Brooks pointed out the other day, New York’s offense was something of a one-trick pony in the early going – racking up highlight reel goals with ease and blowing opponents out routinely. But predictably, the club’s foes observed and adapted to that onslaught and lighting the lamp soon became quite challenging.

But as Brooks noted, that may have been a good thing in the long run, for it forced this club to learn to play a different style and work for the gritty goals that are more the norm in the sport, especially against good teams and in the playoffs. The Rangers aren’t scoring five goals a game anymore, but they’ve found a way to net just enough to win hockey games and they still produce those fancy tic-tac-toe goals in transition when the opponent offers the opportunity.

The losses of Rick Nash, Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich to injury also contributed to the team’s offensive struggle, but they afforded Alain Vigneault a chance to experiment with new personnel, give rising youngsters more responsibility and assess the roster makeup as the trade deadline approaches.

Who knows if Matt Puempel, Marek Hrivik or Nicklas Jensen will play a role this season or has a future in blue, but Vigneault has gotten to gauge that first-hand as opposed to hearing glowing reports of those players dominating against inferior competition in Hartford. Vigneault and Jeff Gorton are now in much better position to determine the pecking order when reinforcements may really be needed down the stretch.

Meanwhile Kevin Hayes, J.T. Miller and Chris Kreider continue to emerge as leaders that are proving they deserve meaningful minutes in all situations. And sophomore Oscar Lindberg was given the leash and playing time he needed to round into form after serious hip surgery.

Looking ahead to the deadline, it became obvious that the power play isn’t the same without Zibanejad – triggerman Brandon Pirri has been rendered basically useless without a righty distributor feeding him across the slot. Perhaps that magnifies the need for another puck-moving righty as a trade target, but getting Zibanejad back will also act as the most impactful midseason acquisition this team could hope for.

Finally, in goal rumors of Henrik Lundqvist’s demise were greatly exaggerated, but his early December struggles paved way for the Blueshirts to get back to fundamentals in front of Antti Raanta. The Finnish backup was marvelous in his own right and once again showed that he’s a trustworthy fill-in to provide The King with extra rest down the stretch.

But most importantly, New York once again defended as a team better in front of its backup and even began tilting the ice and out-shooting its opponents – a critical sign for this club’s chances of sustaining success.

There will be more rough patches over the course of this season as there always are, but the key is perspective. As long as the Rangers come out the other side still in playoff position and for the most part healthy, then the lessons learned amidst adversity can be extremely valuable.

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