It’s been a great first three months of the season for the Rangers, who were 22-8-1 heading into Saturday’s pre-Christmas finale against the Buffalo Sabres at Madison Square Garden. But 50 games remain in the regular season when they return after the NHL’s three-day Christmas break.
And for a team that threw open its window of Stanley Cup contention two seasons ago when it made a surprise run to the Eastern Conference final, it’s not the regular season that matters. It’s what happens in the playoffs that everybody cares about.
It’s just that, the playoffs are still so far away.
“Yeah, I think no one’s thinking that far ahead right now,’’ Artemi Panarin said this week. “We know the more important time is the playoffs, obviously. Everyone knows that. But first, we’ll have to make the playoffs, [so we] focus on that. We look like we’re in a good spot, but you never know what can happen.
“Just try to fix the small things in our game.’’
The Rangers, who enter the break atop the Metropolitan Division and locked in a battle with the Boston Bruins for first place in the Eastern Conference, were hoping to bounce back Saturday against the Sabres (14-17-3) and enter the break on a positive note, following a deeply disappointing loss to the Edmonton Oilers Friday night.
Blake Wheeler’s goal, and an outstanding performance over the first two periods by goaltender Jonathan Quick had the Rangers leading 1-0 going into the third, but they crumbled in the final 20 minutes, allowing four goals in the first 10 minutes of the period.
Two late goals, both with Quick pulled for an extra skater, made the final score deceivingly close, at 4-3. But the Rangers took no consolation from that.
“I don’t think we’re looking for small victories of clawing back into games anymore,’’ captain Jacob Trouba said. “We expect to play a better game for a full 60 minutes. I think we’ve shown ourselves as a group that we can do that. I think that’s…
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