Rangers’ stretch run comes with a host of Metro division battles

The Rangers have set themselves up for a comfortable finish to the regular season.

Despite a tumultuous January, when they posted a 5-7-2 record, the Blueshirts never lost grip of first place in the Metropolitan Division.

It’s been theirs since Oct. 24, a fact that says a lot about the Rangers, as well as the seven other teams in the Metro.

Six of those clubs — Washington excluded — will have an opportunity to rattle the Rangers in their pursuit of winning the division.

Five of them — Carolina excluded — will have multiple chances to get in their way of a clean finish.

Beginning Thursday against the Devils at Prudential Center, a whopping 14 of the Rangers’ final 26 games of the regular season will come against division opponents.

That’s a lot of four-point games on the horizon.

The Hurricanes were just six points behind the Rangers entering Thursday’s slate of games, while the Devils were four points back of the Red Wings in the second wild-card spot in the East.

Thursday was the Rangers’ first of three final meetings with the Devils, who will be playing to salvage their season in each one.

“Those games are always intense,” Mika Zibanejad said. “They’re fun, good games. It’s not just a rival, but a division rival as well. Two big points on the line.”

The Devils proved to be a tough matchup for the Rangers during their seven-game triumph in the first round of the playoffs last season.

Facing the Devils three times over the home stretch of the season provides the Rangers with an opportunity to ramp their game up against the team that ended their previous season.

That’s what the final two months of the season are all about anyway.

The fact that approximately 53 percent of the Rangers’ remaining games carry more weight, however, poses a unique challenge that should be beneficial in the long run.

If the playoffs started on Thursday, the Rangers would’ve drawn the Lightning in the first round of the postseason.

The wild-card race is tight enough to say that only time will tell if that matchup actually sticks, especially considering there was only one point separating Tampa Bay and the Red Wings entering those clubs’ games against the Capitals and Avalanche, respectively, Thursday night.

The same can be said for the Rangers, who will have to sustain their current play if they hope to stay atop the Metro.

There’s a burden and a target that comes with winning a division, especially if it’s a spot they’ve held for a majority of the season.

Wild-card teams usually have had to work that much harder to earn their postseason bid.

The Lightning, in particular, have had one of their toughest regular seasons since they last missed the playoffs in 2016-17.

Detroit, on the other hand, is a team that is fueled by their quest to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2015-16.

But the Rangers’ matchups with the Devils will mean something different to each team.

“We’ve got to focus on our game and what we’re going to do,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “Offense is always a part of the game for us, trying to generate, create what we want offensively. We’re also talking a lot about defensively and making sure that we’re on point playing this [Devils] team. They’re a sharp offensive team, so we’re going to need to be good.”