Zac Jones and Braden Schneider are the Rangers' lone defensive bright spots right now

The Rangers’ entire defensive game has been in shambles the past three weeks, and the defensemen in particular have been struggling. The top two pairs – Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox, and K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba – have had trouble defending in their own zone, getting the puck out of the zone, keeping the puck out of the net or producing much offense.

But the third defense pair of Zac Jones, 24, and Braden Schneider, 23, has been a bright spot. Especially Jones, who sat out five of six games between Oct. 19 and Nov. 1 as a healthy scratch and has been surging lately. Jones has played in three straight games – and had an assist in each of them – before appearing in his fourth straight game when the Rangers host the NHL’s top team, the Winnipeg Jets, on Tuesday at the Garden. He’s playing too well to come out of the lineup right now.

“The D pairings have moved around, and they still can move around,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said after Monday’s practice. “But Zac's come in and he's given us, I think, really good minutes. The puck's been on his stick. He's gotten us out of the defensive zone. He's jumped into the play offensively. When he's in the offensive zone, you find the puck on the stick, and him looking for the next play. The skating looks better and better every day. He looks good. He looks like he's getting more confidence."

Jones didn’t have that confidence a few weeks ago, when Lindgren’s return from injury and rookie Victor Mancini’s solid play combined to squeeze him out of the lineup. But something changed when he got back in against the Islanders on Nov. 3. He got an assist in a 5-2victory that really was the last good game the Blueshirts played. In the next game, a horrid 6-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at the Garden, Jones and Schneider were about the lone bright spots in a game that saw goaltender Igor Shesterkin pulled for the first time in a year.

Jones had the primary assist on the Rangers’ only goal in that game, by Will Cuylle, and he was praised by Laviolette the next day for being solid on defense and aggressive with the puck when he had it. Laviolette rewarded Jones by installing him as the point man on the second power-play unit, replacing Miller.

“Growing up, I've always been a power-play guy, so think I just move the puck and try to give the puck to the forwards and let them do their thing,’’ Jones said.

On the season, Jones entered Tuesday with no goals, four assists and a plus/minus rating of +7 in eight games. Schneider had two goals, three assists and a team-high +10 in 13 games.

“I think we've done a really good job at just playing simple,’’ Schneider said. “We're communicating really well, communicating breakouts. I think we broke the puck out pretty well. I think we've defended hard, and obviously we've been on the ice and have created some chances and things like that.’’

According to Natural Stat Trick, the pair was on the ice for 38 minutes, 54 seconds at 5-on-5 in the last three games, and the Rangers had outscored their opponents 3-0 (1-0 in each game) in that time. The shots on goal when the pair was on were even, and the high-danger scoring chances were 10-7 in the Rangers’ favor. The pair has played 53:33 together this season, with the Rangers outscoring opponents 4-0 while they are on the ice, and high-danger chances favoring the Rangers, 13-10.

Compare those numbers to Miller-Trouba: The Rangers have been outscored 4-0 in the 61 minutes, 10 seconds that pair was on-ice together at 5-on-5. The shots on goal were 39-16, shot attempts 78-38, and the high-danger chances 17-4 in favor of the opponents when they were on ice.

To be fair, the top two pairs are matched up against other teams’ top offensive players, while Jones and Schneider most often go against other teams’ third and fourth lines. Still, perhaps with those numbers, Jones and Schneider ought to play more than they have.

“I feel like Schneids and I've been playing well together,’’ Jones said. “He and I have been playing together for a couple years now, but … I don't know, we haven't clicked at the same time.

“This year, I kind of feel like we're building some comfortability,’’ he said. “We feel like we've talking a lot more, we're making plays. We're using each other more, and I feel like that's a big difference to how we're playing right now."

Blue notes

Igor Shesterkin was back in net Tuesday night to face the Jets, who had won six straight and are the first team to win 14 of their first 15 games in NHL history. Shesterkin entered 6-3-1 with a .920 save percentage and one shutout. His counterpart, Connor Hellebuyck, was 11-1 with a league-best .935 save percentage and three shutouts. Hellebuyck won the Vezina Trophy last season . . . Chris Kreider (113) is closing in on becoming the Rangers' all-time leader in power-play goals. Camille Henry is first with 116. Kreider is third all-time in goals in franchise history with 312. Rod Gilbert is first with 406, followed by Jean Ratelle (336) . . . Artemi Panarin (684 games played) became the fourth-fastest active player to record 800 points behind Connor McDavid (545 GP), Sidney Crosby (571 GP) and Alex Ovechkin (658 GP).

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.