The Rangers haven’t wavered when describing their games for the past few weeks.
Even if the results and their placement in the standings didn’t change much, they’d improved from the lowest points of their slide.
“A different vibe,” Vincent Trocheck told The Post’s Larry Brooks last week.
And after securing five out of a possible six points during a three-game West Coast trip, the Rangers finally have the results to back up those claims.
They’ve collected points in seven of their past eight games and enter Saturday’s match against the Blue Jackets — which starts a four-game stretch against beatable teams ahead of them in the playoff race — with a six-game point streak.
Reilly Smith of the New York Rangers celebrates a goal during the third period against the Utah Hockey Club on January 16, 2025, at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“It seems like ever since Christmas,” forward Reilly Smith said Thursday after a 5-3 victory against the Utah Hockey Club, “we’re playing a different brand of hockey.”
So, in a way, the Rangers are surging — relative to the rest of their season — into their next handful of games, with a chance perhaps to leapfrog teams ahead of them if they keep stringing points, and wins, together.
Reilly Smith of the New York Rangers and Ryan Lindgren of the New York Rangers celebrate a goal during the third period against the Utah Hockey Club on January 16, 2025, at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
They sit four points behind the Bruins for the second wild-card spot.
Columbus, which has won six consecutive games, sits just five points ahead of the Rangers but opened the year 16-17-6.
This will be the Rangers’ first meeting against the Blue Jackets during the 2024-25 campaign, and they’ve won five of their past seven games against Columbus.
Then, the Blueshirts will face the Canadiens, Senators, and Flyers, which all sit ahead of the Rangers but outside of the playoff picture.
They’ve gone 4-1 in games against that trio of teams in 2024-25 and trail them by two points, two points and one point, respectively, in the wild-card chase.
Even when the Rangers were in the worst of their tailspin, the logjam of teams clustered around the Eastern Conference’s wild-card spots presented an avenue for them to save their season.
To figure everything out eventually.
Goaltender Igor Shesterkin defends the net during the first period of a game against the Utah Hockey Club on January 16, 2025, at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
To enter the deadline still in position to buy, if they want to, and reshape their roster for potentially one final postseason run with their remaining core.
They still have ground to make up in order for that scenario to materialize.
But after their recent stretch, the Rangers have started that process.
And during their next set of games, if their surge turns into a sustained run, they could finally start climbing.
“That’s important for sure,” Artemi Panarin, who scored his team-leading 18th and 19th goals against Utah, said Thursday of getting five points during the West Coast stretch. “It’s a great road trip for us, and we’re gonna be ready for the next game. Pretty important game against Columbus.”
After Arthur Kaliyev scored Thursday for his first point since joining the Rangers, the Blueshirts have received points from 26 different players this year — tied for the most in the NHL, according to the team.
Kaliyev, signed off waivers last week, logged at least 12 minutes of ice time for the second time in three games, too.
With the Rangers slated for a back-to-back this weekend, goaltender Jonathan Quick likely will get another chance to become the first United States-born goaltender to reach 400 career wins. Quick has lost his past two starts to remain stuck at 399.
