Rangers seeing hints of brilliance from 18-year-old Alberts Smits even if scoring hasnt followed

It didn’t take long for Alberts Smits to provide a glimpse of what Mike Sullivan had hinted at. Late in the first period Thursday, less than a minute before the Devils goal that began the Rangers’ unraveling at Prudential Center, Smits slammed his stick on the ice four times from the left circle.As play cycled behind the net, Smits knew he had an open shooting lane.

Alexis Lafrenière slid the puck over.And Smits, the No.

5 pick in June’s draft, sent a shot toward the net around traffic that Nico Daws turned aside.  Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.So much of Smits’ acclimation to the NHL, as a rookie who skated on the third pair from the first day of training camp and never looked back, has revolved around the defensive layers.

But the Rangers also think he has “an offensive dimension to his game that might be untapped,” Sullivan said. There have been flashes through 10 games, even as Smits has yet to log a point — and, entering Monday’s game against the Ducks, remains the last Blueshirts regular without one.But the Rangers, who remain impressed with how he has performed with inevitable growing pains and mistakes mixed in, think that part of his game will eventually emerge too. “I think the offense is gonna come,” Smits said Thursday.

“Just gotta take care of the defense first.So that’s what I’m focusing on right now.” Smits, who recorded a pair of assists with Latvia across four games at the Winter Olympics while stringing together six goals and 13 points in 38 games with Finland’s Jukurit last year, picked up his first unofficial point in the preseason — sending a nifty pass toward the slot that Taylor Raddysh deflected into the net.

Sullivan has continually raved about Smits’ passing and physical poise, about how he doesn’t look like an 18-year-old on the ice, and that served as a tangible example in a g...