The schedule is the schedule, as Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette put it, but the Rangers rose to the challenge of facing two of the toughest opponents they could’ve drawn coming out of the All-Star break.

A gutsy overtime victory against the Avalanche preceded this 3-1 win over the Lightning on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, where fans got to see the Blueshirts come out on the winning side of an energetic, low-scoring affair and put an end to Tampa Bay’s three-game winning streak.

As a result, the Rangers have now strung together a three-game winning streak for the first time since mid-December.

The common theme in all three?

Goalie Jonathan Quick, who took his spot between the pipes for a third game in a row for the first time since he appeared in four straight in early November of last season with the Kings.

“I’m the biggest Quickie fan you’ll find,” said Jimmy Vesey, who scored two goals in the win, including an empty-netter. “He’s just an all-around great guy and I think he’s brought a lot of leadership to our team. It’s kind of weird, growing up in my high school years, watching him win Stanley Cups and now having him on your team. He’s a legend.

“I’m an American, so makes it even more special. One of the best American goalies of all time. He’s been a rock for us all year.”

Quick finished with 18 saves and held the Lightning off the board until the 5:29 mark of the third period, when Brandon Hagel cut the Rangers’ lead to 2-1.

While the pace of play was high, there wasn’t a whole lot going on through the first two periods from either team.

The Rangers, however, happened to be the more opportunistic.

Less than a minute and a half into the middle frame, Vesey jumped out on a two-on-one rush with Barclay Goodrow, kept the puck for himself and backhanded it past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to open the scoring.

Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev then went down in a scary scene.

The 25-year-old, who was playing in his first game back after missing the last 17 with a lower-body injury, hit the ice after absorbing a reverse hit from Alexis Lafreniere near the corner.

Sergachev crumpled to the ice and held his knee in clear pain before he was loaded onto a stretcher and ushered off the Garden ice.

“I don’t know,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper told reporters when asked if he’s preparing for Sergachev’s season to be over. “Let’s not think that way.”

There’s been a lack of secondary scoring from the Rangers bottom-six lately, but they delivered Wednesday night.

Between Vesey’s two goals and Jonny Brodzinski’s 2-0 score at the 17:46 mark of the second period, the bottom-six notched all three of the home team’s goals.

The Lightning, playing in their first game back from the break, didn’t help their cause in the second period by taking a penalty less than a minute after each of the Rangers goals.

Though the Rangers’ power play didn’t help their own cause, either, and it hasn’t in the last five games.

After going 0-for-2 Wednesday night, the Rangers are now 0-for-11 with the man-advantage in the last five contests.

The Rangers’ penalty kill, however, came through late in the third period to fend off the league’s No. 1-ranked power play.

“They get the one and it shrinks and that’s how close it was and you realize that they’re going on the power play,” Laviolette said. “You realize they have a really good power-play unit and one or two really, really effective players on the power play. I thought that we were good in zone with pressure, I thought we were good off the rush in the neutral zone, just defending and disrupting right away.”

These were a pair of victories that carried weight for the Rangers.

Topping the team tied for first place in the Central Division and the No. 3 team in the Atlantic Division is a feat to build on.

The Rangers may be starting to act like the No. 1 team in the Metropolitan Division again.