Jesper Fast gets his big Rangers chance and doesn’t disappoint

It says a lot about a team when a grinder like Jesper Fast is on its top line. But it also says a lot about Fast, the fact that he is not only able to fill the role, but become the impetus that has propelled Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad to start racking up points for the Rangers in the four games the trio has been together.

“Anybody I put Quickie with, that line seems to play the right way and play real hard,” coach Alain Vigneault said after Monday’s practice, using Fast’s quirky nickname. “Probably his work ethic and his energy rubs off on people. For me, Mika and Kreids, they’re playing some of their best hockey of the year right now, and hopefully it continues.”

The Blueshirts are 5-2-2 since the Feb. 26 trade deadline, when they stripped their roster down to the studs with an eye to the future. It left Fast as one of the main contributors rather than just a role player, which is something that he has embraced.

“Ever since I got here, I’ve been used in different spots,” Fast told The Post. “Maybe I’m a bottom-six guy, but I can also come in and play in the position I’m in now.”

The 26-year-old Swede has always been one of Vigneault’s favorite players, and he garnered enough respect from the organization that he signed a three-year, $5.5 million deal last summer, carrying an annual $1.85 million salary-cap hit through 2019-20.

But the season has not gone well for anyone, and Fast is just about as competitive as they come. Since he joined the Rangers in 2013, they have done little but win, and all the losing en route to what will be the team’s first playoff-less spring in seven years has been difficult.

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“Ever since I got here, we’ve been a winning team,” Fast said. “I don’t think we’ve had to battle for a playoff spot, either. We’ve had a really good [points] difference between making it and not making it. So of course it’s been a different experience. It’s hard, you have to challenge yourself a little bit. You have to be motivated. It’s definitely a new experience being here the last month or so. Just trying to stay positive and do the best I can.”

After notching an assist during the Rangers’ 4-3 overtime loss in St. Louis on Saturday night, Fast extended his points streak to five games and now has 11 goals and 26 points on the season. But since he joined Kreider and Zibanejad for the 4-3 shootout loss to the Panthers on the road on March 10, those two have combined for six goals and nine assists.

That included Kreider’s first four-point night Wednesday in a surprising 4-3 overtime win against the Penguins, and two separate two-goal games for Zibanejad.

“The last four games have been fun,” Fast said, with the team having gone 2-0-2 in those contests. “[Zibanejad is] a guy that can do everything out there. He’s good on defense, good on faceoffs, brings all the offensive game. It’s a lot of fun. Chris, when he’s playing the way he is right now, he’s a difference-maker every game.”

For most of the games Kreider played this season — having missed two months with a blood clot that required rib resection surgery — he was with Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich on the right side. But Vigneault said that line “had no opportunities at all” in the two games prior to swapping Buchnevich with Fast.

“Ever since I moved Quickie up with Mika and Kreids, they’ve been our best line five-on-five, creating zone time, creating shot attempts, creating scoring chances,” Vigneault said. “And they’ve been matched up against some of the best lines in hockey, and they’ve done a real good job for us.”

While it may be a new role for Fast, it’s one that he is running with — and making the Rangers better for it.

“I’m not the guy who talks the most, or the loudest,” Fast said, “but trying to lead by example, trying to be a good guy.”