Jacob Trouba’s struggles continue even as Rangers surge

Gerard Gallant appreciates the way which Jacob Trouba bounces back from his mistakes.

Left unsaid, though, is the amount of times that the Rangers captain has had the opportunity to rebound after making a costly turnover.

Trouba had two more in Monday’s game against the Devils, but the Rangers were able to overcome them in a 4-3 overtime victory for their fourth straight win.

“He’s fine,” Gallant said on Wednesday after practice. “He’s battling hard, he’s competing hard, he’s a big part of our group. He makes mistakes like every other player in the league. Cost us one goal last game, but that happens. That’s part of the game. Troubs rebounds [from] that real well. That’s what you like about veteran players and a guy like him. He’s not going to let a mistake [affect him]. If you caused a goal, well move on and get ready for the next shift. That’s what you like about pros like that.”

Trouba’s struggles have become an all-too-familiar trend through the first 30 games of the season. He had offered some signs of improvement lately, not having been on the ice for an even-strength goal against in each of the Rangers’ last three games before Monday.

Jacob Trouba looks to take a shot for the Rangers. Getty Images

But against the Devils, his two key miscues came early and led to a pair of goals, one directly and one indirectly.

“It happened, move on,” Trouba said Wednesday. “I don’t really dwell on it. Can’t change it.”

The first giveaway came at 2:57 of the opening period in the Rangers’ defensive zone, leading to a shot from Devils forward Tomas Tatar that Igor Shesterkin saved. But the Devils won the ensuing faceoff and four seconds later, Nico Hischier put them on top 1-0.

Just minutes after that, Trouba got his stick on a Devils pass in front of the Rangers’ net, but he couldn’t follow through on the clearing attempt and the puck found Dawson Mercer, who made it 2-0.

“Let’s face it, he tried to flip a puck and it didn’t flip, so you can’t blame a guy for that,” Gallant said. “We laugh about it all the time. NHL, there’s a lot of times when you’re under pressure flipping pucks and sometimes you miss them. But no, it’s part of the game. You get pressure on you and you make a mistake. But it’s about rebounding from a mistake. There’s not one player in this league that doesn’t make mistakes.”

The Rangers’ flat play overall in the first period — not just from Trouba — resulted in Gallant mixing up his lines once again, this time including his defensive pairs. Trouba went from playing with K’Andre Miller to partnering with Libor Hajek, as Braden Schneider was bumped up to play with Miller.

Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba and Chicago Blackhawks left wing Jujhar Khaira (16) get into a scuffle in the second period at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 3, Corey Sipkin

The result was Trouba playing only 18:41 — his fourth-fewest minutes in a game this season.

At the start of Wednesday’s practice, Trouba was back with Miller, though he also skated with Hajek at times.

Either way, Trouba downplayed the defensive-pair shake-up and turned his focus to the team, which is stacking wins against tough competition as it tries to pull itself all the way out of the hole it had dug early in the season.

“We’re having a little bit more fun finally, which is nice to see,” Trouba said. “We’ve had our moments of not playing good hockey, but kind of addressed it and are able to know when it’s happening and [flip the] switch. Overall, we’ve played pretty good hockey.

“You know there’s going to be ups and downs throughout the season. We always believed this was going to turn for us, we just gotta keep it going and keep playing the right way.”