Rangers getting two key pieces back after quirky break

The NHL season is often considered a grind, and yet the Rangers are currently coasting. They also have gotten healthier without some key players missing what could have been quite a few more games.

The Blueshirts will end a streak of just two games in 10 days when they host the Coyotes at the Garden on Friday night. This was not their bye week, just a random part of the schedule that opened up and allowed both Mats Zuccarello (groin) and Pavel Buchnevich (broken thumb) to heal and prepare for their respective returns.

Zuccarello has played just two games since suffering the injury on Nov. 6 and Buchnevich has been out since he was hurt on Nov. 10. It’s not often a team gets two players back from injury on the same day and inserts both of them right into its top six. Coach David Quinn, however, was quick to remind everyone it’s not so easy to return from that long of an absence.

“It may take some time,” he said after Thursday’s practice. “We’re going to have to be patient. They’ve both been out for a while. So I think everybody has to temper their expectations on what these two are going to be able to do for us [Friday] night.”

But if the acclimation might take a while, the hope is their mere presence will lift the spirits of the rest of the squad, which is in the midst of a 2-5-1 stretch dating to the day after Thanksgiving.

see also

How Mats Zuccarello is dealing with his trade-bait reality

This is a strange time for Mats Zuccarello. The Rangers…

“What can happen when you get two guys back, everyone else feels a little bit more confident,” Quinn said. “When you get two guys of their caliber, I think the roster in general, the players in general, feel a little bit more confident. I think that’s been a little bit of our problem — we haven’t played with a lot of confidence and swagger. I think having two guys like that back in our lineup will give us a little bit more swagger and a little bit more confidence.”

It seems Quinn is going to put Zuccarello on the right side of the top line, with Filip Chytil and Mika Zibanejad, while Buchnevich will go on the right with Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes. That is a pretty formidable top two lines, if they can play up to their talent.

“They’re a big part of our team, they provide a lot of offense,” Hayes said. “They make some dangerous lines, up and down our lineup. It’s exciting to have them back. They’re excited, we’re excited. So it should be a good time.”

Quinn has had quite a bit of instability throughout the lineup in his first season behind the Rangers’ bench, but he said he hopes this ends that.

“I would love to have some continuity and go with the same lineup and the same lines for an extended period of time,” he said. “That would certainly help all of us.”

The fact is this type of spread-out schedule is not going to last. Following the three-day Christmas break, the Rangers play every other day for three-plus weeks — 13 games in 23 days — leading into their actual bye week, beginning Jan. 20. That stretch includes a New Year’s Eve trip from Nashville to St. Louis, then quickly thereafter, a three-game sojourn from Denver to Phoenix to Las Vegas, beginning Jan. 4.

“You know it’s going to be tough,” veteran Marc Staal said. “You’re going to be tired, you’re going to be sore, you’re going to have things that are bugging you. You have to rely heavily on playing as a team, playing solid hockey. Because everyone is not going to feel great every night. You have to rely on everyone doing the same things, communicating, the little things that make you more effective when you’re not feeling great.”

This has been a nice little respite for the Rangers, in which they were able to get healthy. But soon, it’s going to come to a screeching halt and the reality of the grind will return.