You raise a Cup that has been .9878 empty since 1940 to a Rangers team that has gotten off to a 9-2-1 start with many of its marquee players yet to hit high notes.

That reflects well on the club’s structure. Championship teams are always equal to more than the sum of their parts. It bodes well that the squad knows how to close out games, a skill often overlooked.

But winning consistently without expected contributions from upper-echelon athletes is probably not sustainable over the long haul of an 82-game season. Fans may root for laundry, but laundry does not win games. Players — and teams — do.

Which is why Tuesday’s 5-3 victory over the Red Wings at the Garden was significant. Artemi Panarin continued his early-season surge with a goal and an assist to stretch his point-scoring streak to 12 games (7-13-20), which is all that his team has played. Vincent Trocheck scored a pair of goals that included the first five-on-five goal recorded this season by a Rangers center.

Chris Kreider scored his ninth goal. The power play with Erik Gustafsson stepping in for Adam Fox went two-for-three while the penalty-kill unit snuffed all six Detroit advantages including a 51-second five-on-three. Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller were outstanding. Jonathan Quick was excellent in winning his first Garden start wearing the Blueshirt. The Big Dogs came out to play.

But there was more.

Because while this is an experienced, veteran team, the Rangers still need to get the most out of the Yoots of Broadway. They are getting a steady contribution from Will Cuylle, the rookie winger who scored his third goal on a deflection to give the Blueshirts a 5-0 lead at 14:10 of the second period.

And in this one, the Rangers received a solid performance from the young Zac Jones-Braden Schneider pair that had had a difficult time in its two games together, Nov. 4 in Minnesota and Oct. 14 in Columbus, through which the young’uns were on for four goals against, none for, and caved in shot-share and attempts.

Jones, the 23-year-old, 2019 third-rounder, had played in only that game in Columbus among the club’s 10. But when Adam Fox went down Thursday against Carolina, Jones was elevated to active duty. After that tough one on Saturday in which the entire team caved in after taking a 3-0 first-period lead only to lose 5-4 in a shootout, the Rangers recalled defenseman Connor Mackey from Hartford.

If he was going to play, he would have been in for Jones. He was not. Instead, Jones kept his spot in the lineup. As head coach Peter Laviolette put it hours before the match, “We’re going to put him back in there and, along with everybody else, gets another opportunity to play a good game.”

Laviolette expounded on the young defenseman’s character as he had been the odd man out for nearly all of the season’s first month.

“I mean he’s been outstanding. He’s worked hard every day,” Laviolette said. “His attitude has been unbelievable, awesome, every day.

“He works hard, he’s got a smile on his face. And you know, not being in the lineup sometimes can cause you to sour, kind of not working, frustrated with having to skate or work. He’s done everything we’ve asked.”

Jones responded to the support. He and Schneider were dominant through the first 40 minutes, racking up a 17-4 attempts edge, a 9-2 shot advantage and an 89.96 xGF percentage in 7:31 of time. The pair played strong positional hockey and got up in the play. This was Young Blood thriving after a getting a pat on the back instead of a kick in the rear.

“I thought that pair was excellent,” Laviolette said. “They had a couple of tough breaks in the third, but they played a good game. At the end of two periods, I thought they had a major impact.”

Jones is in a tenuous spot where one bad one can eliminate him from the lineup. He was not, however, worried after Minnesota.

“I wasn’t too worried about coming out of the lineup, but my only goal was to come to the rink with a great mindset [Monday] and just focusing on what I needed to do better,” Jones told The Post. “One-hundred percent it’s great to know that the coach has my back.

“The biggest thing for me is keeping my confidence. When you’re in and out of the lineup you’ve got to be ready to go no matter what. Things happen like they did happen and all of a sudden you’re in. That’s the job.”

And he did the job on Tuesday and he did it with Schneider. Jones said that video work with the staff, and specifically with Phil Housley, the associate coach in charge of defense, are done with pairs.

“I think we can take a lot of positives out of this one,” Jones said. “For me, the biggest thing is being ready for Thursday’s game. That’s the biggest thing.”