Colin Stephenson: Best friends Jaroslav Chmelar and Adam Sykora are making the Rangers really fun to watch

Yes, it’s true. As the Rangers play out the string — four games remain after Sunday’s visit to the Garden by Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals — these final games don’t mean much.

But, low key, as the kids say, these end-of-the-season games actually have been kind of fun. All of the rookies getting auditions have infused a certain energy into the lineup, and that has made the games very watchable.

The Rangers had won four of five entering Sunday, and even those fans who have been advocating that the team tank games to try to secure a better draft pick can’t help rooting for the kids to succeed.

And no one has been more fun to watch down the stretch than best friends Jaroslav Chmelar and Adam Sykora, Two Wild and Crazy Guys (Google it) from Czechia and Slovakia. They were roommates in Hartford, and now that they’re together on the Rangers, they are having the time of their lives on the ice.

Chmelar, 22, scored the first goal in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Detroit (rookie Gabe Perreault had the other three), and Sykora, 21, jumped into his arms after he did.

“He did the same thing for me, so I think the most important thing in our relationship is that we support each other in every situation,’’ Sykora said when asked about his happiness for his friend.

“It’s an incredible feeling,’’ Chmelar (pronounced kh-MEL-ash) said of the moment that he and Sykora are having right now. “It’s what we worked for, so we’re trying to enjoy it together. And it’s unbelievable that we can.’’

The 6-4, 226-pound Chmelar, a fifth-round draft pick in 2021, first got called up in early November and made his NHL debut on Nov. 7 at Detroit. He played two games (getting into a fight in his first one) before being sent back to Hartford.

He returned in early December and played four games before going back to Hartford again. After returning to the Rangers, he scored his first NHL goal on March 5 against Toronto and had four in the last 17 games (two in the last three) before Sunday.

“When I think about Jaro in training camp and see where he was then and where he is now, it’s night and day,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think the game is slowing down in his mind. But he’s also picked up physical foot speed. And as we know, he’s a big kid, he’s a giant out there. And so he has long levers, so he may not look like he’s going as fast as he is, but he’s moving .  .  . He can really skate for a big man.’’

Sykora, generously listed at 5-11, 193, came up on March 24 and made his NHL debut the next day. Sullivan had him on a third line with Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle, and he scored two goals in his first three games. But Sullivan switched things up Thursday against Montreal, flip-flopping Sykora and Jonny Brodzinski and putting Sykora, a second-round draft pick in 2022, on an all-rookie fourth line with center Noah Laba and Chmelar.

“I had said to our coaching staff maybe a couple of games before, at some point, I wouldn’t mind exploring putting three kids together and see what that might look like,’’ Sullivan said last week. “They can all skate. They bring some speed. Sykki’s got a real good relationship with Jaro in particular. And sometimes those relationships can carry over when they compete hard for one another out there.’’

With the likes of the impressive Tye Kartye, plus Matt Rempe, Adam Edstrom and Taylor Raddysh, who’s still under contract, the Rangers will have a lot of players fighting to earn spots in their bottom-six forward group next season. So what Chmelar and Sykora are doing now guarantees them nothing as far as the future.

But in these final games, it sure is making the Rangers fun to watch.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.