Back on Nov. 25 after the Rangers served notice to the league and perhaps to themselves by beating the upper-echelon Bruins at the Garden and thus vaulting into first-overall in the NHL, K’Andre Miller said, “I still don’t think we’ve played our best hockey yet.”
Fast-forward through the ensuing 13-game stretch in which the Rangers have been on an 8-5 roller-coaster ride that featured a lot of good, some bad and a pinch or two of ugly entering Wednesday night’s match on Broadway against the Caps, Miller still feels the very same way.
Not only about the squad that owned the NHL’s best points percentage (.734) coming out of the Christmas recess, but also regarding his own game, about which his critique was unsparing.
“I don’t think we’ve really found our game, if you will. I think there’s another higher level we can get to and maintain more consistently,” Miller told The Post following the morning skate. “I think that’s maybe been the fall lately, I guess, that we’ve seen with this group the last two or three years or so, maybe the inconsistency where we’ll have one of our best games followed by one of our worst games.
“We need to narrow that gap, knowing that we can play a north game and a game where we can determine the outcome. I think we’ve put together a number of games where we’ve done a number of things right. Finding that full-60 effort the way we want to play, doing that more consistently, that’s what we’re aiming at. It’s coming.”
Miller, who will turn 24 on Jan. 21, is the left half of the Rangers’ matchup pair with Jacob Trouba. The tandem, which invariably gets the opposition’s top guns in conjunction with head coach Peter Laviolette ramping up the match game, ranks fifth in the NHL with a 58.97 percent of goal share (23 for, 16 against) among the 15 pairs with at least 400 minutes at five-on-five.
Still, Miller is not satisfied with his season. Laviolette seems to be, but not No. 79, himself, who has looked in the mirror and hasn’t particularly liked what he has seen.
“I don’t think I’ve done anything this year that I’ve been really happy with, to be completely honest,” Miller said. “I think there’s a lot of improvement in my game that I can show and I can bring each night.
“I need to simplify my game. Maybe I’m trying to create too much or trying do too much with the puck. That’s where my game can slip away from me at times. From my perspective, it’s about keeping the game simple, keeping guys in front of me, trusting myself and being reliable for my teammates.”
Miller can be a one-man breakout. He has the skating skill and vision to break traps. He is not shy about joining the rush. He can shoot the puck. But the 6-foot-5 native of St. Paul’s offensive numbers are down, clocking in with 12 points (5-7) in 30 games as opposed to his 43-point (9-34) production in 79 contests a year ago. He has only four assists at five-on-five as contrasted with 24 last season. His defensive numbers, though, are slightly improved. You will hear no complaints from Laviolette.
“I think he’s a young player continuing to get better and continuing to push. There are so many athletic things he does on the ice, his skating, his reach, his ability to move pucks,” said the head coach. “I think all of our players are trying to reach another level but it’s not in the sense that I’m sitting here disappointed in the way he’s playing.
“I think his start to the season has been good but I always think there’s another level for a player — a young player, especially, like him — where you want to see him keep climbing the ladder with responsibility and his game.”
Miller, of course, was a center until he shifted back to the blue line at age 16. Perhaps that informs much of his game that is much more dependent on positioning and reads than in physicality.
“I can’t tell that,” Laviolette, a defenseman by trade, said. “It looks like a natural spot and a natural fit.
“I love the way he skates. I think he goes back under pressure and breaks out pucks. I think he’s got a good understanding of the rush and D-zone coverage. He uses his skating and offensive instincts to penetrate the neutral zone at the right time with speed. There are a lot of good things he does in the offensive zone as well.”
Still, there is more for Miller to give and there is more there for the Rangers to give as well. Everyone recognizes that the heavy lifting lies ahead.
“Sometimes I feel like we get away from our game by trying to do too much east-west hockey,” said the 22nd overall selection of the 2018 draft. “We know that’s a recipe for disaster.
“It’s cliché, but we have to play to our identity every night no matter who we’re playing. We have to set the standard for ourselves. When we all bear down and play the 200-foot game, north-south hockey, that’s where we’re at our best and that’s when we’re the most dependable.”
Dependability leads to the next level. That’s the mission for the Rangers to accomplish the rest of the way. The same applies to Miller.
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