Rangers reunite with J.T. Miller in blockbuster trade with Canucks

The Rangers may have lost two straight games to put their playoff hopes in jeopardy, but they still are going for the postseason. 

They completed a much-anticipated trade for J.T. Miller on Friday in exchange for Filip Chytil. 

Miller began his career with the Rangers more than a decade ago. 

The Rangers also received defenseman Erik Brannstrom, as well as prospect Jackson Dorrington, and gave up Victor Mancini. 

Miller is expected to join the team in time for their game against the Bruins on Saturday in Boston. 

It’s a significant move for a Rangers team that entered January losers of four straight and at risk of missing the playoffs. 

After a mostly promising few weeks, which included a 10-game point streak, got them to within one point of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, they head to February once again on shaky ground after two straight defeats. 

They’ve fallen to five points out of the last wild-card spot with five teams to pass, and they simply can’t find the rhythm they had last season. 

It’s all part of what Peter Laviolette called Friday a year in which his team is “having to work a little harder” to find success. 

The head coach called last year, when the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy for finishing with the most points in the league, “a year where the players or the team or whatever it might be seemed to find its way. This year, we’re having to work a little harder for everything.” 

Laviolette was responding to a question about Chris Kreider’s decrease in assists, with Kreider having just two assists in his 42 games this season, down from 36 in 82 a year ago. 

“It’s not just him,” Laviolette said after the team’s optional practice Friday in advance of Saturday’s key matchup in Boston. “We’re working to create to be successful on a daily basis, whereas last year, not that it was easy, but there were less obstacles and less roadblocks. So we’re working through that.” 

They’re not making it easy on themselves, as inconsistent play has again coincided with other contending teams going through hot streaks in the conference.

The Rangers sit behind Boston and Montreal, as well as the streaking Islanders (six straight wins) and Detroit (four straight wins). 

Following Saturday’s game in Boston, the Rangers return home for a game against Vegas on Sunday at Madison Square Garden before another matchup versus the Bruins at MSG. 

Then they’ll face Pittsburgh and Columbus before the two-week 4 Nations break. 

They’re trying to make up for a 4-15 stretch that lasted over a month and followed a promising 12-4-1 start. 

At some point, perhaps looking up in the standings will take a toll on a team, as Laviolette said they were “still trying to work our way out” of those poor few weeks. 

“When you’re in it and you’re not getting out of it, it’s tough,’’ Laviolette said. “Coming off of January, again, we didn’t like the last two games’ results, [but] it was a pretty good month.” 

But Laviolette acknowledged the solid stretch was “muddied a little bit at the end. We’ve just got to attack February, and that starts with one game in Boston [Saturday].”