Jacob Trouba has turned his season around, and the Rangers have benefited

In this era in which social media allows anyone to air complaints about anything or anyone at any time, Rangers fans are always looking to blame somebody every time the Blueshirts allow a goal. This season, defenseman Jacob Trouba has had a lot of blame piled on him by the Twitter crowd.

Entering Thursday’s game at Madison Square Garden against the NHL-leading Boston Bruins, Trouba had three goals, 11 assists and a team-leading 39 penalty minutes (tied with Ryan Lindgren) in 45 games. His minus-6 rating was the second-worst on the team behind Vincent Trocheck’s minus-7.

Although the numbers say Trouba isn’t having as good a season as he did in 2021-22 (when he had 11 goals and 28 assists in 81 games and was a plus-25), things have quietly turned around for the Rangers’ captain lately, as they have for the team in general.

“We went through some things early on,’’ Trouba recently told Newsday. “I’m not going to say it was expected, but there were different expectations coming into the year. There were different pressures . . . a lot of different things that I think we kind of found our way through. But I think we found our way back to us, and our game, and how we play. And I think we all knew it was here.’’

Individually, Trouba got off to a rough start, often showing up in the replay as having turned the puck over or failed to clear the net effectively on several goals against. But since he and defense partner K’Andre Miller were both minus-3 in the Rangers’ win over Carolina on Jan. 3 — a game in which Trouba had a goal and an assist — Trouba’s defensive play has been noticeably more sound. In the six games since that win, he registered an assist, 12 hits, 15 blocked shots and a plus-1 rating as the Rangers went 4-1-1.

Going back further, in the 19 games before Thursday, the Rangers went 14-3-2 and Trouba had all three of his goals, five assists and a plus-3 rating in that span, which began with the 6-4 win over St. Louis on Dec. 5. It was the first game after Trouba ripped off his helmet and threw it against the boards in frustration late in the second period of a brutal 5-2 loss to a rebuilding Chicago team two nights earlier.

Trouba fought twice in the Chicago game and also landed a huge hit on Andreas Athanasiou that prompted the second fight, against Chicago captain Jonathan Toews.

Afterward, Trouba talked about the need for the team to show “a little bit more emotion, a little more will.’’ And more than a few teammates pointed to that display of emotion by their captain as something that definitely caught their attention.

The Rangers were 11-10-5 after the Chicago loss, but beating St. Louis started a seven-game winning streak that turned the season around.

Trouba acknowledged his tough start but said he’s been playing better. And, he said, his increased physical play is a part of his personal turnaround. He leads the Rangers in hits and blocked shots, credited with 134 hits and 108 blocks entering Thursday.

“I think physicality is a big part of it,’’ he said. “I think early there were definitely some struggles, some growing pains a little bit, of just getting back to how I play and what makes me successful. And it’s not always the points or the stats or whatever, but I think, making an impact as far as physicality or however it may be.’’

Last August, Trouba became the Rangers’ first captain since Ryan McDonagh was traded to Tampa Bay at the start of the rebuild in February 2018. Whether the weight of the captaincy played a part in Trouba’s slow start or not, it’s clear that as the team has played better, Trouba has played better. Or, perhaps, vice versa.

Open practice. The Rangers announced they will hold a practice open to the public on Saturday at Madison Square Garden beginning at noon.

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.