The best teams — the group the Rangers view themselves as part of — are separated by how they respond to rough patches.
The Rangers have now taken their season’s low point — a four-game losing skid — and quickly turned it into what could be an inflection point.
They created a new streak in the process, beating the Kraken 5-2 Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden for their second consecutive win after the four-game slide.
It had many of the qualities of the Rangers’ early-season dominance — decisive and north-south attacking, crisp and precise passing and a vintage performance by Igor Shesterkin in net.
Tuesday’s win also marked the second game of the second half of the regular season, which the Rangers have begun 2-0 along with Sunday’s 2-1 win over the Capitals.
Perhaps the Rangers left their weeks of bad hockey in the first half of the season.
They entered 9-9-1 since Dec. 5, but improved to 28-13-2 with Tuesday’s win, remaining in first place in the Metro Division.
The red-hot Kraken had won nine straight games before falling to the Penguins on Monday.
But a clinical first two periods and more assured defending helped the Rangers deliver Seattle’s second-straight loss.
And helped provide the Rangers a momentary sigh of relief after recent frustration.
Artemi Panarin was given far too much space on a power play early in the first period, allowed to waltz deep into the offensive zone.
He expertly found Vincent Trocheck streaking in front with a cross-ice pass, and Trocheck calmly tapped it in to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead 8:22 into first period.
Justin Schultz had been penalized for delay of game.
Panarin and Trocheck have formed a lethal combination this season.
It was Panarin’s 33rd assist and Trocheck’s 14th goal.
Panarin now has 60 points, tying him with Canucks center and ex-Ranger J.T. Miller for fourth-most in the league.
Kaapo Kakko, skating with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider on the first line again, notably got in on the action in what was just his second game after missing the previous 21 with a lower-body injury.
He buried a snap shot off a well-placed backhand feed from Zibanejad to extend the lead to 4-1 at 17:01 into the second period, an encouraging sign for both the line, which has struggled to score in recent weeks, and the top-six as a whole.
Just moments before, Blake Wheeler extended the lead to 3-1 to give the Rangers some breathing room.
He cleverly deflected in Jonny Brodzinski’s shot 12:32 into the second period, giving the Rangers’ often-criticized bottom-six a rare highlight. Wheeler later scored an empty-net goal 17:21 into the third period to extend the lead to 5-2.
Shesterkin was at his best, turning away 29 of the 31 shots he faced.
The Rangers relied more on him in the second period when he plucked out several point-blank chances, including a double save on Will Borgen and Schultz just over a minute into the period and a save on a breakaway from Kailer Yamamoto.
Soon after Trocheck’s first-period goal, he quickly delivered what has become far too familiar a sight during the Rangers’ recent struggles — crushing giveaways in vulnerable positions.
Head coach Peter Laviolette had talked pregame and in recent days about the need to minimize those errors.
Given time on the penalty kill, Trocheck was loose with the puck while bringing it out to the neutral zone and attempting to reset and was stripped by Jordan Eberle.
Two passes later Eberle got it back and beat Igor Shesterkin to tie the game at 1-1.
Barclay Goodrow had been penalized for roughing.
Erik Gustafsson scored just 28 seconds later, however, to almost immediately re-establish the Rangers’ lead.
He collected a loose puck in the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot past Chris Driedger to make it 2-1 with 11:09 left in the first period.
Jared McCann’s power-play goal, after K’Andre Miller was penalized for tripping, cut the Rangers’ lead to 4-2, 14:24 into the third period.
Both goals the Rangers conceded came on the power play, a small blemish in an otherwise dominant night.
After playing their worst hockey of the year, the Rangers now carry badly needed new life into their four-game road trip out West.