Brett Howden admitted he started to get too comfortable after the first 161 games of his Rangers career.

So when he was a healthy scratch for the first time since the Lightning traded him to New York in the Rangers’ 4-0 victory over the Bruins on March 13, the center looked at it as an opportunity for him to reset.

“For me, just sitting out that game and being able to watch from up top and kind of focus on my game and be prepared for the next one,” Howden said Thursday. “It was a good jolt for me and for me to really find my game and work hard.

“I just want to move on from it and keep trying to be better.”

The 22-year-old came out in the following two games and had a revitalized offensive grit, which was essentially nonexistent through the first 25 matchups of the 2020-21 season. He’s now riding a two-game assist streak into the Rangers’ matchup against the Capitals on Friday.

The Rangers don’t value Howden for his offensive contributions, which is a good thing considering he hasn’t scored a goal since Feb. 28 2020. The Rangers regard Howden as a top-four penalty-killing forward who can take faceoffs.

Howden has played a major role in the Blueshirts’ stellar penalty kill this season (85.9 percent), which has the third-highest efficiency rating in the NHL. However, his offensive production over his three seasons has significantly regressed.

After scoring six goals and dishing 17 assists for 23 points in his rookie season in 2018-19, Howden upped his goal total to nine but had just 10 assists for 19 points last year. Through 27 games this season, he’s registered four assists – only one of which was a primary helper.

There’s been a lineup competition among the bottom six forwards between Colin Blackwell, Julien Gauthier, Brendan Lemieux and Kevin Rooney. And now that Howden recognizes he’s in that mix, it’s given him some added motivation. Looking ahead, all five of the aforementioned players are eligible to be exposed in this summer’s Seattle Kraken expansion draft, with only one likely to be protected.

“I think during the games everybody is just focusing on the task at hand and doing your job,” he said. “If you’re worrying about all the other little things, then you can’t play the best to your ability and your mind is not in the right spot. Those decisions aren’t up to us, those are coach’s decisions, and for us, anybody that gets put in we’re just trying to be ready to go and trying to win a game.”

There’s an argument to be made that Howden might’ve benefitted from starting the season in Hartford, but with the AHL season delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it wasn’t really an option. Howden has played in enough NHL games to lose his waivers-exempt status, so no one should expect the Rangers to put him on the taxi squad or send him down to the Wolf Pack.

With a cap hit of $863,333 on the final year of his entry-level contract, Howden likely wouldn’t get through waivers. But the Rangers have been high on Howden and what he brings to the lineup. Turning up the offensive production will increase his value and probability of continuing his career in New York.

“I think I am a power forward, center or wing, I can play both,” Howden said of what he brings to the Rangers. “I bring energy and grit and try to make plays out there.”