NEW YORK — Life for the Rangers looked dark a week ago. They had been thoroughly outplayed by the strong Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 29, and Adam Fox — their most valuable skater the early part of the season — suffered a left shoulder injury that will keep him out until at least after Christmas. The season was still relatively young but felt in danger of slipping away.

Instead, the Rangers have looked galvanized. They responded to the Tampa Bay loss with a comeback win against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, scoring a six-on-five goal and getting an overtime winner from Vladislav Gavrikov. Next came the Ottawa Senators, whom the Rangers beat in a tight road contest on Thursday. The league-best Colorado Avalanche ended the Rangers’ winning streak on Saturday, but not before New York stole a point thanks to another game-tying six-on-five goal. And on the second half of a back-to-back Sunday, the Rangers responded from a dismal first period to snag a point for an overtime loss against the Golden Knights. New York nearly earned a regulation win that night but gave up the tying goal in the final minute.

Six days. Four 2025 playoff teams as opponents. Six out of eight possible points earned.

“We’ll take that any day of the week,” Rangers captain J.T. Miller said. “I just think that we’re doing it the right way. We’re not cheating for offense to do it.”

The 2025-26 Rangers might be more dangerous than some of us — hand up, myself included — were giving them credit for after Fox went down. Yes, this roster still feels multiple pieces away from true championship contention, but its players showed they can be pesky and dig out wins, even against some of the best teams in the league. Their response to the Fox injury has been admirable.

The playoffs feel like a far more realistic goal than they did a week ago.

“We’re moving toward the identity we’re trying to build,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “When you play some of the better teams in the league, like we have most recently, and the guys perform the way they have, I think it provides a lot of evidence. I think it reinforces belief in what we’re doing and how we’re going about it.”

“I love that we’re playing some of the top teams in the league right now,” Miller added. “I just think it’s an unreal challenge for our group to try to see where we’re at. It’s pushing us through these moments.”

The results through a gauntlet of playoff teams were encouraging, but let’s not get too carried away. New York entered play Monday tied for fifth in the Metro Division by total points (33) and last by point percentage (.548). The East standings are a bit of a jumble, so New York isn’t far behind the teams it’s chasing — the second-place Hurricanes have 36 points, for example — but this past week has cemented the Rangers as part of the mix.

Metro Division standings

Team

  

Games

  

PTS

  

PTS %

  

30

39

.650

28

36

.643

30

35

.583

27

34

.630

31

34

.548

27

33

.611

29

33

.569

29

32

.552

(Standings before Monday’s games.)

Long-term, it won’t do much good if the players’ habits regress.

“We’ve just got to continue to stay hungry and continue to work at it,” Sullivan said.

“I’m pretty positive on our game and where it’s trending right now,” Vincent Trocheck added. “I feel we’re playing the right way most nights.”

The schedule now lightens up. Only three of the Rangers’ next seven opponents (Montreal, Anaheim and Philadelphia) entered play Monday in postseason position by point percentage. If New York can keep up its recent play, it could put itself in position to leapfrog teams in the standings.

Early in the season, the Rangers had strong underlying numbers but weren’t getting rewarded, particularly offensively. They were fourth in the NHL in five-on-five expected goals for percentage in October, per Natural Stat Trick, but had a .500 record. Their level of play took a dip during stretches of November: They were 22nd in the league on the month with a 47.18 percent five-on-five expected goal share. Sullivan thought his team was sacrificing its defensive soundness, at times, while chasing offense.

This past week, New York’s game has trended in the right direction.

“We’re showing by our intentions and the way we play,” Mika Zibanejad said. “We talked about it earlier in the season: I thought we played similar to this, but we didn’t really get the result. Gotten some results (lately).”

The underlying numbers don’t back that up entirely. New York had 46.28 percent of the five-on-five expected goal share in the past four games, according to Natural Stat Trick. But quality of opponent has to factor into how that’s viewed. The Rangers’ performance in this 2-0-2 stretch wasn’t perfect — Dallas and Colorado led until the final minutes of regulation, the Senators game could have gone either way, and Vegas dramatically outplayed New York in the first period — but when they’re playing to their structure, they can hang with elite teams.

Goaltending helps with that: Igor Shesterkin leads the league in games played in net and is sixth in goals saved above expected, according to Evolving-Hockey. He was excellent during No. 2 Jonathan Quick’s two-week absence with a lower-body injury, going 5-1-1 with a .923 save percentage. With Shesterkin in net, the Rangers have a chance. Quick has been one of the league’s better backups when healthy, and he had a solid night against Vegas in his first game back from injury.

All of that is reason for hope: something that didn’t seem plentiful this time last week.