NEW YORK – Early this season, the Rangers special teams haven't been, well, that special. It's something that coach Tom Renney has been concerned about, until last night, when it became a full blown problem in the Penguins 6-5 last second victory over the Blueshirts.

The Rangers have up four power play goals with another coming short handed, and that could have been two Penguin goals while the Rangers were on the man advantage, but Jarkko Ruutu's came out of the box when Ray Whitney's second goal of the night was getting by Henrik Lundqvist in the third.

So, it stood to reason, when Jaromir Jagr, who scored the Rangers first goal, took a hooking penalty with a little over a minute left in regulation, Sidney Crosby would convert on that power play, sending a shot off Aaron Ward's skate to send Blueshirt Nation home with a very tough loss.

“We worked hard,” Matt Cullen, who scored the Rangers second goal of the game, said. “We got that last goal to tie it up. Hopefully we would get a point. But those are tough to handle.”

On the bright side, the malaise, which haunted the Rangers in Tuesday's loss to the Flyers, was gone and the energy level was up to the levels Tom Renney expects.

“That's probably accurate,” Renney said, “but with all the good intentions, we handed a hockey game away.”

Part of the problem is the lack of cohesiveness on special teams. Too many times, the Blueshirts were taking unnecessary risks trying to create chances, which ultimately led to turnovers and Penguin scoring opportunities.

“It's exactly like that,” Renney agreed. “With your game you have to have wits and depth. And with depth, it also means high. Consequently, we gave a man advantage and with our forwards back, they were doing what they had to do in transition against an undiciplined team.”

If that's the problem, what's the solution?

The Rangers need to get back to the positional hockey they played under Renney last season. Even though the players are new and maybe more talented, the Blueshirts have a problem with freelancing, which is creating too many chances for the opposition.

And what it's doing is causing problems for Henrik Lundqvist, who gave up the six goals on only 22 shots.

“It's very frustrating,” Lundqvist said. “I have to look at the goals and it's different. When you look at the goals, the bounces went their way. I have to play my game. I had some sticks in the way, but they played smart too. It was the way we lost it. We had some tough penalties.”

Now, the Rangers will try and rebound on the road in Buffalo. It may be something this team needs and also Renney may make a few changes to get the team a needed win.

“We have to play a good team in Buffalo on the road,” Brendan Shanahan said. “Sometimes a game like that is good for times like this. Playing a team you have a healthy respect for might be good for a time like this.

Notes: Shanahan's goal in the third put him in 14^th place overall in goal, passing Jari Kurri...Jordan Staal, brother of Eric and Marc, scored his first career goal to open the scoring in the second.

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