Winter has come for the Rangers with a brutal post-break road trip

If what happened to the Rangers between Thanksgiving and Christmas was an expected dousing of cold water on tenuously held hopes of a surprising playoff run, it hardly gets any warmer on this side of the break.

The Blueshirts made things interesting for a while, with a 9-1-1 run that led into Thanksgiving showing there is promise under first-year NHL head coach David Quinn, and promise in their rising young talent (as well as remaining in 36-year-old Henrik Lundqvist). But the 3-6-4 stretch that brought them into the three-day holiday break that will end with Thursday night’s Garden match against the Blue Jackets, was not exactly a shock.

Now it is with that renewed reality that winter descends on the club. With a 11-4-4 record at home and a 4-10-2 record on the road (the third-worst in the league), Quinn’s team will play eight of the next 12 games away from the Garden. Following what will surely be a punch in the face from John Tortorella’s hard-working Columbus team, the Rangers go on their annual New Year’s trip, this time from Nashville to St. Louis, where they will play on the night of Dec. 31.

Before the mandatory bye week starts Jan. 20, there also will be trips to Colorado, Las Vegas, one last stop Jan. 12 at Barclays Center that is part of a home-and-home with Islanders, and games at Columbus and Boston. For a team that has enjoyed a pretty merciful schedule during the first three months of Quinn’s reign, it will be some test to keep the Rangers focused during that type of grind.

To complicate matters, the trade deadline (Feb. 25) continues to cast a shadow over the entire season. General manager Jeff Gorton is fully committed to rebuilding this team in the likeness of the new NHL — young, fast, skilled, and affordable. He would like to do it as quickly as possible, and Lundqvist’s age and commitment to this franchise have something to do with that. But deviating from the plan was never an option.

More than likely, that means career Ranger Mats Zuccarello and his expiring contract will be shipped out by the deadline, giving him the probable chance to play for the Stanley Cup. The status of another pending free agent, Kevin Hayes, will be monitored. But teams likely are going to have to blow the Rangers’ doors off with an offer to get Gorton to consider moving the 26-year-old, who is playing the best hockey of his career.

If something of value is offered for veteran defenseman Adam McQuaid or rugged fourth-liner Cody McLeod, they likely will be converted into future pieces.

There also should be interest in another 26-year-old, Vlad Namestnikov, who has one more year at $4 million left on his deal. But the likelihood of trading someone else with term left — say, Chris Kreider or Brady Skjei — might be more likely over the summer. Not that Gorton is actively trying to move those players, but their names certainly will be involved in the rumor-mongering, if not some theoretical talks.

All of that is a distraction. All of that is what can take a difficult season and turn into a slow torture. Just ask Alain Vigneault.

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Last season, following the letter sent on Feb. 8 to fans, declaring the intent to rebuild, the team went into a 2-6-1 spiral that led to the trade deadline (which came with the club on a flight to Vancouver), after which they went 6-9-3, ending the season with a 5-0 blowout loss in Philadelphia. Just hours later, Vigneault was fired, officially ending an era.

But Quinn was brought in to help usher in this rebuilding phase, not necessarily to win right away. There has been some significant progress with the young players, and Quinn’s college-like attitude, preaching accountability and work ethic during long, hard practices, has resonated with the youthful group.

But the niceties are over, and the dark days of the Rangers’ season are at hand.