Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette finally spoke about Matt Rempe's impact on the team after his return to action after serving an eight-game suspension.

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette paired the two when Miller returned from an upper-body injury on Dec. 28. While they didn’t gel right from the jump, they’ve quickly built chemistry and have arguably become the Rangers’ best two-way defensive pairing.

Coach Peter Laviolette has changed the team’s defensive alignment, returning to the 1-3-1 that served the team well last season. That said, no structure works without application, and after six weeks spent moping about the loss of locker room leaders Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba, the team seems to have rediscovered their verve.

Since being traded away by the New York Rangers, forward Kaapo Kakko has found a new home with the Seattle Kraken. Amid a hot streak, the 23-year-old Finn dropped a bold message, aiming at Peter Laviolette and his former team.

"That's the frustrating part about it: to play so well for 58 minutes and not to capitalize," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said.

A difficult trip out west saw the New York Rangers pick up wins in Vegas and Utah, but fall in overtime in Colorado

Vincent Trocheck was the lone scorer in a shootout win for the Rangers over the Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

The simple answer is that the Rangers are winning again and wins fuel confidence. “You have to do the right things in order to get a win and at the end of the day it’s the winning that helps build the confidence,” Peter Laviolette said. I do think it’s starting to build because we are putting wins in the column.”

Vincent Trocheck scored the only goal of the shootout, Igor Shesterkin stopped 27 shots and New York Rangers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0.

The win against Utah moved the Rangers back over NHL .500 at 21-20-3; it’s the first time they’ve been on the plus side since mid-December. They are still sixth in the Metropolitan Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference — but are part of a seven-team pileup scrambling for the two wild cards in the East.

There was something vintage about this, about the way Chris Kreider faded toward the high slot after the Rangers won a faceoff midway through the third period Thursday.