Rangers captain J.T. Miller knows he needs to pick up the pace: 'Trust me, it's on my mind'

DENVER — J.T. Miller is a tough guy, one who doesn’t make excuses and doesn’t shy away from responsibility. And as the Rangers’ captain, he is aware that the Blueshirts’ 10-9-2 record entering Thursday night’s game is something less than was expected. He’s also aware that his 10 points in 21 games isn’t meeting expectations, either.

And yes, Miller sees a definite correlation between those two observations.

“I’ve never really gauged my game on points,’’ Miller said late Tuesday after the Rangers lost to the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2. in the opener of their three-game road trip, which continued Thursday against Colorado. “Typically, when I bring my game, points come.

“That being said, this year it seems like nothing’s really going in the net. We’ve got a big enough sample size — 25% of the season is gone — and we’re in a lot of one-goal games . . . I understand that if I’m producing the way I’m capable of producing, our record might look a hell of a lot different.

“So trust me, it’s on my mind.’’

At Tuesday’s morning skate, coach Mike Sullivan spoke about all the things Miller does to help a team win that don’t involve scoring. He talked about the intangibles Miller brings and how important those are.

To win, though, you need the tangibles as well as the intangibles. Right now, in the tangibles department, Miller entered Thursday with four goals and six assists, which projects to 16 goals and 24 assists over the full season. That would be his lowest point total since 2014-15.

He does have an overtime goal and a shootout winner in Columbus last weekend, so he’s largely responsible for at least two of the team’s 10 wins. But if they are going to assert themselves in the race for an Eastern Conference playoff spot, the Rangers are going to need more.

Miller, 32, does win faceoffs (after Tuesday’s game, his 346 faceoffs taken were tied for second-most in the league, and he was winning at a rate of 58.1%), and he does play a physical game (his 52 hits were second on the team behind Will Cuylle’s 76). It’s also true that on most nights, Miller draws the assignment of playing against the opposing team’s top players, as on Tuesday, when he matched up against Jack Eichel’s line in Vegas.

But the Rangers didn’t acquire Miller from Vancouver last season to be a checking center. They need him to be good at both ends of the ice.

Getting Miller did add grit and competitiveness to the roster, and it seemed to energize Mika Zibanejad, who had a difficult year last season but seemed to turn things around after Miller arrived in February. Zibanejad has looked a lot more like his old self and has been the Rangers’ best, most dynamic forward.

But it’s also noticeable that Miller started the season as the No. 1 center, with Zibanejad playing on his right wing, and these days it’s Zibanejad who is the No. 1 center, with Miller on his right wing. It may be a subtle distinction, but it says something about what Sullivan is seeing right now in the two players.

“They’re somewhat interchangeable, so I think it’s semantics,’’ Sullivan said at Wednesday’s practice at Ball Arena. “One of the reasons that we did it was because we thought we really liked Mika’s game in the middle. We thought he could generate speed from underneath and he was getting the puck in motion more.’’

Vincent Trocheck, who has been Miller’s friend since the two played youth hockey together as 12-year-olds in Pittsburgh, was sitting next to Miller on Tuesday night when he talked to the media about his needing to score more. Trocheck didn’t like to hear Miller being questioned about his production.

“So many times people are judging people’s performances based off points. I hate that,’’ Trocheck said. “You watch J.T. play the game and to me, I’m just looking at, ‘Did our team win? Is our team playing well?’ I’m not looking at who’s getting points . . . He’s a difference-maker every time he’s on the ice. He’s physical, and he could go 60 games without a point — he’s still gonna win faceoffs, he’s gonna hit guys . . . He’s gonna play hard. He’s gonna lead by example.’’

All of that is true. But without an uptick in his scoring, it might not be enough.

Notes & quotes: D Will Borgen, who has been bothered by an upper-body injury, did not dress. He was replaced in the lineup by rookie Scott Morrow. “Right now, he’s day-to-day,’’ Sullivan said. “We’re going to manage it accordingly . . . we want him to get over the hump, so to speak with respect to it.’’ . . . Adam Edstrom, a healthy scratch against Vegas, was back in the lineup. Juuso Parssinen was back out along with D Urho Vaakanainen.

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.