Rangers' Jimmy Vesey is back in playoffs and he's pumped

Jimmy Vesey got a nice taste of the playoffs in his rookie season with the Rangers. He had a goal and three assists in 12 games, went two rounds, and life was good.

But the Rangers went into their much talked-about rebuild a year later. And Vesey was traded a year after that. He bounced around the league for the next three years, missing the playoffs every spring, until he returned to the Rangers this season.

Now he’s back in the playoffs, and he’s loving every minute of it.

“It's been, I guess, six calendar years since I've been in the playoffs,’’ Vesey said Monday at the Rangers’ morning skate, before they hosted the rival Devils at Madison Square Garden in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. “But this is what you want. And I’m so pumped to be a part of this, and see what we can do here.’’

Sporting a thin, scruffy, sad-looking attempt at a playoff beard (“It’s the best I can do,’’ he said), Vesey, 29, admitted he was nervous before Game 1 of the series in Newark last week.

“I think it's so much different than regular season,’’ he said. “The regular season gets pretty loose at times, defensively, and, I don't know, it feels like the regular season's, more (about) skill. And in the playoffs, it just tightens up so much.’’

But having been around the NHL block a time or two, and possessing an observant and analytical mind, he’s noticed that his teammates, after having gone deep in the playoffs last season, have been quite comfortable in the locker room since the postseason began.

“I wasn't here last year but I've been really, really struck by the team's focus since the playoffs started,’’ he said. “It’s just kind of a quiet or calm confidence to the group, and I think it's showed in our play. The playoffs have started and we have been extremely focused. We’ve played, I think, extremely well defensively against the team that generates a lot offense. We’ve got some veteran guys here and guys that have been deep in the playoffs before. So I really like the mindset.’’

Coach Gerard Gallant said he hasn’t noticed any difference in the players this season, compared to last, when they entered the postseason much like the Devils have this year, with little playoff experience.

“I don't, honestly,’’ Gallant said. “I mean, like you said, we're a year older, a little bit more experienced, but I don't see anything different. Practices are the same. Preparation's the same. You know, nothing different. That's the way I like it.’’

The Rangers entered Monday having not batted an eye after losing Game 3 in overtime Saturday night. Their spin on Saturday’s 2-1 loss was that they played fine, but the Devils improved their game, and they just happened to get beat in an overtime which could have gone either way. Their mantra was to keep doing what they had been doing in the first three games.

“Just try not to overthink things,’’ Patrick Kane said. “I mean, we had a great first two games in the series, We did similar things last game – maybe not to the level of execution that we've kind of set the standard to the first two games – but you know, try not to overthink it. Play the same way and be confident in our group.’’

Vesey, a feel-good story this season after making the Rangers following a training camp tryout, played for the Devils last season, and so he’s familiar with their entire roster. He tried, he said, to talk with his new teammates about some of the tendencies of some of his former teammates, but realized he didn’t need to go too deeply into all that.

“At the end of the day it's business as usual,’’ he said. “We're in the playoff series and it's never easy. We got the early jump and dropped a hard-fought game the other night.

“I think they're a young team, they might have might have had some nerves in a lot of their guys' first playoff game [last Tuesday], but I think they know what their strengths are,’’ he continued. “They're still trying to generate [offense] off the rush, and their power play can be very dangerous. I think we've done a really good job defending, but it's a seven-game series. We have to maintain our focus and defensive play.’’

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.