Zac Jones is proving himself worthy of elusive permanent Rangers lineup spot

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Zac Jones has stumbled several times in his pursuit of becoming an NHL regular, whether it be his own doing or the obstacles that have been put in front of him.The 200-foot play he single-handedly generated to give the Rangers some insurance last game, however, is just a testament to the drive and perseverance Jones has had to play with every single day since he broke into the league three years ago.Sunday was Jones’ 11th appearance of the season and sixth in a row, after head coach Peter Laviolette opted to stick with rookie Victor Mancini when Ryan Lindgren returned from injury at the end of October.It relegated Jones back to the press box — where he’s spent a majority of his Rangers tenure — for five of six contests after his four-game run to start the season.This all after he finally secured his spot in the lineup out of training camp for the first time, which was made possible by the Rangers’ decision to not bring in a new defenseman in the offseason.“It sucked,” Jones told The Post after the Rangers practiced Monday at Rogers Arena, ahead of their matchup with the Canucks on Tuesday.“Obviously, you want to play, you don’t want to be out of the lineup, but I tried to take it more as a reset this year.

Last year, I feel like I kind of would’ve taken it more personally.Why is he doing this? What’s the reasoning? Just thinking about it too much.“Whereas this year, I was kind of like, ‘Alright, let’s relax a little bit.’ Reset the mind, the body and just get ready to go whenever that next opportunity is and make it so he can’t take you out of the lineup.”That is exactly what Jones has done since reentering the Rangers lineup earlier this month.It culminated in a dominant performance Sunday night, when he scored his first goal of the season on an end-to-end play that saw Jones cut through the Kraken as if he were Davy Jones himself to create a three-on-two zone entry.Jones and his puck-moving abilit...