J.T. Miller hasn’t looked like himself for much of the season, recording his fewest points per game (0.77) in seven years.
But the Rangers captain has felt more like himself in recent weeks — scoring two goals during a three-game win streak, along with six assists in the past six games — centering a line with Conor Sheary and Tye Kartye after spending much of the season at wing.
An injury to Noah Laba on March 18 is what led to the formation of the Miller-led line, but the group’s stellar play has kept them together since Laba’s return from a five-game absence.
Miller, who has 16 goals and 31 assists in 61 games this season, has a team-worst minus-26 rating this season.
“I’m a better center,” Miller said Monday. “It feels good to be back in the middle, taking control of the circle on both sides. I’m definitely playing better when I’m at center. I think I’m more engaged. I just think I’m a better version of myself than at wing. That being said, you always gotta do what’s best for the team and play where you need to play. It’s a luxury to be able to play both. I think in an ideal world I would play center but I’m just trying to do what’s best for the team.”
“He shared his experiences with being in the middle versus playing on the wing. I’ve had that running conversation with J.T. all year long,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “He feels pretty good in where he’s at. Certainly to the eye test and everything we track, that line has been excellent for us consistently. They’re controlling play, they’re controlling chance attempts … they’ve been solid defensively, they’ve scored some goals. From that standpoint, that’s one of the reasons we’ve stayed the course in respect to keeping J.T. in the middle.“We’re trying to help J.T. capture his very best game. That’s an important element for us for a lot of reasons.”
The Devils, who are technically still in playoff contention, had more incentive in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Rangers.
But the more motivated team was never in question.
“I thought we were outworked for sure,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “The Rangers came out and played hard, played with purpose.”
Devils center Nico Hischier agreed, saying the Rangers “played harder” and “wanted it more.”
“That’s part of the identity we’re trying to build here,” Miller said. “I think that’s the ultimate compliment is being a pain in the ass for the other team to play against. To hear that, it should feel good. Typically if you do that you’re gonna get rewarded. It’s nice to get rewarded right now as a team. Let’s keep this rolling to the end of the year and feel good and have something positive going into the summer.”
Conor Sheary didn’t score his first goal of the season until Dec. 6. As recently as three weeks ago, he had one goal through 43 games.
But the 33-year-old winger has scored five times since then, including goals in the past two games.
“I think when you look at his game earlier in the year when he wasn’t scoring he was getting a lot of looks and a lot of really good chances and the puck didn’t go in the net for him. Now, it is,” Sullivan said. “When you look at Conor’s game, I think the best element of his game is his quickness, his ability, his puck pursuit, he’s a dog on a bone on the puck. He works.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
