I will readily admit that I did not think the Rangers had this in them. 

When the calendar flipped from 2024 to 2025 with demoralizing defeats and dispiriting weeks piling up one after another, I did not believe the Rangers had a 5-1-2 run in them that they carried into Saturday night’s Garden confrontation with the Blue Jackets. 

I did not believe that Humpty Dumpty would be able to put itself back together again. 

But the Blueshirts have thrown a twist into the narrative as if the season became a David Lynch production. A compete mentality was reestablished in the first period in Sunrise, Fla., on Dec. 30 that has continued to be a staple through the stretch in which the team collected 12 of a possible 16 points.