A bit of sensibility emerged, and it didn’t seem to hurt.
The Rangers finally decided it to be prudent in sitting three of their big trade pieces — scratching Mats Zuccarello, Kevin Hayes and Adam McQuaid for Saturday’s Garden matinee against the Devils. And the Blueshirts ended up not needing them against the mostly lifeless rival, taking a 5-2 victory.
The Rangers (27-26-8) had been doing pretty well keeping all the trade talk at bay, but it seemingly caught up with them for their most recent game, a 4-1 home loss to the Wild on Thursday night.