Vinni Lettieri here to make most of his Rangers second chance

MONTREAL — It is on Vinni Lettieri to cram the 20-minute experience he received per night with the AHL Wolf Pack into the perhaps 10-minute ride he can expect most nights with the Rangers.

Unless, of course, the winger can earn more time from David Quinn by being productive as a fourth-line winger and on the power play, where he was expected to get a look here in Saturday night’s first game back with the varsity after a two-week, four-game spin in Hartford.

“It was good for me to go down, get a lot of minutes, score goals and build up my confidence,” Lettieri said following the morning skate preceding the contest against the Canadiens. “But whether you’re getting 15 or 20 minutes, or five or 10, you still have to play the right way.

“Obviously it’s easier to get into it with 15-20 minutes, but you still have to make the most of every shift and find your niche. You still have to find the way to contribute.”

The 23-year-old winger was recalled Friday after recording three goals and two assists in four games with the Wolf Pack after having gone 14 games without a point with the Rangers in almost exclusive fourth-line duty. Not only did Lettieri not put up numbers, not only was he unable to create a different kind of positive impact, he had started to pick up bad penalties.

Hence, the demotion, quickly reversed because of the combination of Lettieri’s strong work and the number of injuries to forwards the Rangers are trying to survive as they play without Mats Zuccarello (groin), Vlad Namestnikov (concussion protocol) and Pavel Buchnevich (broken thumb).

“When you go down, you can’t waste time sulking or being disappointed about it,” said Lettieri, who scored in his NHL debut in Detroit last Dec. 29 but had gone 32 straight in the NHL without getting No. 2. “When I got there, I had the same attitude I always do. I was positive, worked hard and worked on my game.

“It’s a great group of guys there. You’re not going to let down. They’re trying to win, too. You can’t be a cancer to the team.”

Lettieri was set to join recent AHL grads Steven Fogarty and Tim Gettinger on the fourth line. Quinn also planned to give Lettieri a look on the second power-play unit with Jimmy Vesey, Filip Chytil, Kevin Shattenkirk and Kevin Hayes. Lettieri got a sum of 18 seconds with the man advantage on his season’s first Broadway tour.

“I think it was good for Vinni to go down and have some success scoring-wise,” Quinn said. “Vinni is part of our future. He’s a good young player with offensive ability but sometimes what can happen with young players is they lose sight of what it takes to have success offensively at this level that’s a little bit different than any other level.

“We all talk about confidence with young players. When Vinni plays with pace and plays straight-line hockey, his skills will be able to influence a game. He did a really good job of that with Hartford and we anticipate he’ll be better [in the NHL] this time around.”

Lettieri, signed following his 2016-17 senior year at the University of Minnesota as an undrafted free agent, was given no timetable for a return trip to New York when he was dispatched to the AHL. No promises. No commitments.

“You never really know what can happen on any given day,” he said. “It’s not a matter of I’m going to be back up in two weeks, or a week-and-a-half. You just have to take it one game at a time and if things work out the way they should, you’ll be up quicker and if not, it’s just the way things go.

“It’s really not in your control. The only thing you can control is how you play. Like I said, it was good for me to get a lot minutes down there, get my confidence back up and score some goals.”