The end is just t the beginning

SO SERIOUSLY. Fiftytwo wins, tying a franchise record, and still with two games to go in the season? The Presidents’ Trophy emblematic of the best record in the NHL?

And even beyond that, 41113 since Dec. 6? The Rangers? Yes, the Rangers. “We knew we had a good team, and we were a confident team, but there was some point in the year, probably in January, where I got the feeling thatwe just weren’t going to lose very many games,” Marc Staal told The Post after the Rangers clinched firstoverall with a 42 victory over the Devils Tuesday night in Newark. “I think our whole team started to think like that.

“We were committed to playing well and we were hungry as a group to win games,” said the alternate captain, a Ranger since the start of 199798. “We put together a lot of streaks, and when we did have a bad game or two, we didn’t let that deflate us.

“It seemed like once we got going, once we had it, we really never lost it.”

Listen, this is no superpower. We all understand that. We all — and, most importantly, the Rangers — understand gaining home ice for as long as the Blueshirts last in the playoffs won’t mean much at all if they can’t exploit it.

The franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy since 1994?

It will be quickly forgotten unless the franchise’s first Stanley Cup since 1994 is added to the Garden’s mantelpiece.

“Having lost in the finals, the most important thing for us coming into the year was to make sure we would make the playoffs so we would get another chance at it,” Ryan McDonagh said. “This is a great accomplishment for sure, and especially in a season where we had so many key guys go down.

“But ultimately we’re going to be remembered for what we do in the next round,” the captain said. “By what we do in the playoffs.”

It’s interesting. Three of the last five losing Cup finalists have each won the following season’s Presidents’ Trophy. The 201112 Canucks did it with Alain Vigneault behind the bench after having lost an excruciating sevengame series to Boston. The 201314 Bruins did it after losing in six to the Blackhawks. coached And now by Vigneault, the Rangers, , whose Canucks also finished first overall in 201213 before a firstround loss that t cost the man his job.

“Players,” said Vigneault, when asked about the hat trick of Presidents’ Trophies. . “I’ve had good players.”

He’s put those good players s into position to succeed. He e coaches teams, not individuals. l For the most part, he cedes the room to his players. He trusts all of his players and all of his players trust one another. They are invested in each other. That doesn’t just happen. “More than any other year, all the guys were comfortable and confident in their roles,” McDonagh said. “There are no attitude issues; no ego in this room.

“Everybody in the group pulls for each other.”

The Rangers kept their composure in this one against a Devils’ team long gone from playoff consideration that spent the first 40 minutes trying to hunt down their opponents following Saturday’s 61 defeat at the Garden rather than try to, you know, play hockey.

The Blueshirts could only score on one of seven power plays, and so it was only 21 after the second despite a 3310 advantage in shots. The third was pretty straight forward, Cam Talbot made some key saves when the Devils brought it on, and when it ended, the Rangers had won their sixth straight over two years in a Battle for the Hudson that has tilted east toward Manhattan.

It is five straight years now the Rangers have finished ahead of the Devils after 13 years it had gone the otherway. The Rangers hadn’t finished ahead of the Devils five straight years since the first five years of New Jersey’s existence starting in 1982, all of those years preceding Lou Lamoriello taking command of the operation.

Now the Devils will be going home again for the third straight year as the playoffs begin while the Rangers will be going home to the Garden for Game 1 of the first round and Game 1 of every round they play in the tournament.

“The way last year ended, it still doesn’t feel right,” McDonagh said. “So now we’ll try again.” The Presidents’ Trophy? It’s a nice start.