Rangers have passed all of their tests, but too much season remains to start thinking about playoffs

It’s been a great first three months of the season for the Rangers, who are 23-8-1 after their 4-3 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres at Madison Square Garden in Saturday night’s pre-Christmas finale. But when they return after the NHL’s three-day Christmas break, there will be 50 games to play in the regular season.

And for a team that threw open its window of Stanley Cup contention two seasons ago when it made a surprise run to the Eastern Conference Final, it’s not the regular season that matters. It’s what happens in the playoffs that everybody cares about.

It’s just that the playoffs are so far away.

“Yeah, I think no one’s thinking that far ahead right now,’’ Artemi Panarin said. “We know the more important time is the playoffs, obviously. Everyone knows that. But first we’ll have to make the playoffs, [so we] focus on that. We look like we’re in a good spot, but you never know what can happen. Just try to fix the small things in our game.’’

The Rangers entered the break atop the Eastern Conference standings (three points ahead of the Bruins), six points ahead of the second-place Islanders in the Metropolitan Division and on a positive note after a deeply disappointing loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.

Blake Wheeler’s goal and an outstanding performance during the first two periods by goaltender Jonathan Quick had the Rangers leading 1-0 going into the third, but they crumbled in the final 20 minutes, allowing four goals in the first 10 minutes of the period.

Two late goals, both with Quick pulled for an extra skater, made the final score deceivingly close at 4-3. But the Rangers took no consolation from that.

“I don’t think we’re looking for small victories of clawing back into games anymore,’’ Jacob Trouba said. “We expect to play a better game for a full 60 minutes. I think we’ve shown ourselves as a group that we can do that. I think that’s what we need to come to expect out of each other every night.’’

The Rangers have shown the resolve to win in all kinds of different ways. They’ve protected leads (16-3-1 when they’ve scored first) and rallied from behind (7-5 when they’ve allowed the first goal); they’ve won on the road (12-4-1) and at home (11-4); they’ve stacked up well against the NHL’s best (7-2 in games against the top 11 teams) and they’ve withstood injuries (7-2-1 in 10 games that Adam Fox missed in November, 3-0-1 in four games No. 1 goaltender Igor Shesterkin missed with an undisclosed injury and 15-8-1 without second-line center Filip Chytil).

Panarin, who was so dejected after last spring’s first-round playoff loss to the Devils, has been dynamic, starting the season with a team-record 15-game point streak and entering Saturday tied for fifth in scoring in the league with 43 points. Linemate Alexis Lafreniere is enjoying the best season of his career with nine goals and 18 points through the first 31 games. He’s on track for career highs in goals, assists and points.

Their centerman, Vincent Trocheck, was second in the league entering Saturday with a faceoff win percentage of .634 (the team led the league with a .549 win rate) and had 20 assists, second on the team to Panarin.

Quick, the former Kings star and three-time Stanley Cup winner who signed as a free agent over the summer to join his boyhood team and back up Shesterkin, has exceeded expectations and was 9-1-1.

It’s all added up to an enjoyable season for Rangers fans and the players themselves. The Blueshirts have passed every test. But there’s still so much time left and so many more tests to come before they face their final exams in the spring.

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.