Rangers hoping momentum from road trip can carry them to elusive Garden win

The numbers paint one picture. They depict the Rangers as one of two teams — along with the Kings — to not win a game on home ice this season. They illustrate that the Blueshirts have been outscored at the Garden 15-6 and went more than 180 minutes without a goal to open the season.

But in the eyes of J.T. Miller, the sample size remains small.

The Blueshirts have played just five of their 41 home games this year and hold just an 0-4-1 mark.

The sixth match will unfold Tuesday night when they host the Hurricanes, look to win their fourth consecutive game and carry over the strides from the recent West Coast trip where, for the first time this season, strong play blended with earned points consistently. When the Rangers dropped back-to-back home games before leaving for Calgary, head coach Mike Sullivan said they “started to lose our swagger,” and he thought they rediscovered it with the trio of wins.

The next step from the Blueshirts involves transferring that production back to a 60-minute window at the Garden. They’ve already orchestrated a winning streak. Their offense has started to score more. And when asked if the Rangers finally securing that elusive first home win of the season would lift a weight off their shoulders, Mika Zibanejad jokingly answered, “Yeah, I guess I don’t have to answer any questions about it.”

“You want to win at home,” Zibanejad said Monday after the Rangers practiced Monday. “You want to make sure that you create a feeling at home where it’s a tough — should be a tough building to come in and play against us.”