GREENBURGH, NY – To borrow an expression from Tug McGraw, the Rangers “gotta believe.”

Painted into the corner and down 0-3, the Blueshirts now need to make history and become the third NHL team – and fourth overall – to come back from that deficit and win their series.

“There is history and it has happened before,” said coach Tom Renney. “It’s a race to four games and [the Devils] only have three, so it’s certainly possible.”

But not probable.

The Rangers have to play perfect today in order to have a chance to win. They need to take more shots and forget the pass first mentality that settled in on this team the whole year. Only by attacking Martin Brodeur will the Blueshirts have a chance to pull out the Game Four upset and extend the series for one more day.

Henrik Lundqvist knows this well, since the Devils have been doing that to him. “We need to take shots, deflections and screens, to put pressure on the goalie and take advantage of the rebounds,” he said.

The problem, though, is the Rangers need to make a dramatic change from the way they have done business all season. Even when they were winning, Renney was never happy about the amount of shots taken by his team and always preached about putting the puck on the net. Now, facing elimination, asking them to do that may be too much.

“If we don’t, we will be done,” Renney said. “It’s that simple. It’s a tough place to be learning by failure, but we have to do that.”

As they face this rough uphill climb, the Rangers may have Darius Kasparaitis back. Renney said it was “50/50” but the defenseman seemed more positive, although he said his hurt groin was “sore” after practicing.

If Kasparaitis dresses, Renney will probably scratch Sandis Ozolinsh. The much-maligned defenseman didn’t seem happy after practicing and the coach mused after Wednesday’s loss about Ozolinsh’s effectiveness in Madison Square Garden, where he was booed every time he touched the puck.

Also in practice, Jaromir Jagr skated for about a half hour and was not available afterwards. Renney felt his hurt arm was getting a little better, but offered no other information. But, Martin Rucinsky seemed satisfied with his way his broken finger was responding to the new cast that allows him to play.

“As long as I can contribute, I will play,” Rucinsky said. “I was out of the lineup for a while, but I feel I can be helpful.”

If the Rangers don’t prevail today, it will be the last time some of them will wear the Ranger sweater. Steve Rucchin is not expected back and neither is Tom Poti. Martin Straka, Michael Rozsival and Rucinsky are free agents and Ozolinsh, with his $2.75 million salary, may be bought out by the team in the offseason.

Joe McDonald is the Rangers beat writer for the Wave of Long Island.