The long shot anchoring the Rangers’ most reliable line

David Quinn seemingly has spent the early part of this season endlessly juggling forwards.

But among all the permutations, Quinn appears to have found only one that looks like a real keeper. Strangely enough, it is centered by a 20-year-old who many thought of as a long shot to make the opening-night roster.

“It’s just a hard-working line,” center Brett Howden told The Post about his line with Jimmy Vesey and Jesper Fast before Sunday night’s Garden match against the Sabres. “It’s easy to play with guys when they’re working hard. I think plays start to develop more so when you’re skating and playing fast. Those two guys play like that and it’s easy to play along with them.”

Quinn put the trio together for the game in San Jose on Tuesday, which was the start of the Rangers taking the final two games of their four-game road trip, finishing 2-2 and stabilizing a lot of early-season stumbling. They have proven to be a line that is strong on the puck and generates offensive-zone time, and Quinn pointed to the well-rounded nature of each player that resulted in the team’s second goal during the 3-2 shootout victory in Anaheim on Thursday.

“The second goal is a great goal, not only the way it ended but what led to it,” Quinn said. “They really got on top of Anaheim. Anaheim tried to get out of the zone three times, and they just kept staying on top of them and making them uncomfortable. Howden finishes a check and that keeps the play in the offensive zone.

“They were threatening throughout the last two games. I think they’re feeding off each other’s energy. That line has a little bit of everything on it.”

Howden was a bit of a surprise to make the team out of training camp. But coming over in the trade last season that sent Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller to the Lightning, Howden came into training camp and outplayed Lias Andersson then outplayed Filip Chytil once the season started to earn his role getting significant ice time. It also helped that he had three goals and eight points in his first 13 games in the NHL.

“Did I ever think it would be going this well? No, probably not,” Howden said. “I didn’t really know what to expect coming in. I didn’t even know if I was making the team. So anything that’s happening, it’s all really — I don’t even know what the word is. It’s just really exciting to be here. I don’t take any day for granted. I make sure I come to the rink and work hard every day, and I let everything else take care of itself.”

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It is surely helpful for a young player learning the league to get some continuity with linemates, which hasn’t happened for anyone as Quinn tries to get a grasp on the strengths and weaknesses of his roster. He has also made it a point to hold each player accountable for his effort and hasn’t hesitated to change the lineup altogether — exemplified by Pavel Buchnevich sitting for two games before returning Sunday night.

“Ideally, I don’t want to do it that way, but when guys are in and out of the lineup, you sit a guy here and there, all of a sudden the whole lineup changes,” Quinn said. “I like having the stability. I think it affects everybody from time to time. But it’s good that these guys have found a little bit of chemistry together.”

It’s good for Howden, and it’s good for the Rangers to have at least one line that had seemed to be worth keeping together.

“I was just really happy to be a part of any situation,” Howden said. “It takes a couple games to see what clicks and see what works. This has been working the last couple games, so I think [Quinn] is just giving it go.”