NEW YORK - Tom Renney knows it and his players - no matter how happy they were to hear Abba again on Monday - know it too.

It was just a good start.

A 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils may have put the Good Ship Ranger in the right direction, but there were still many mistakes the Blueshirts covered up in the victory.

“We have to continue to improve,” Renney said in his post game press conference. “We really haven’t achieved anything yet, outside of winning a game.”

The first thing the Rangers need to do is stay out of the penalty box. They had seven trips to the sin bin as opposed to one for Devils. Even though, the Rangers produced a goal on their only power play, they can’t be expected to be perfect on the penalty kill every night.

Part of the problem was the sloppy play of the past week, which Renney thought contributed to a few questionable calls. Because of their carelessness, referees were not giving the Rangers the benefit of the doubt and since the Devils are a well disciplined team, New Jersey got the favorable whistles.

“Brutal,” Renney called it and said, “We’re trying to beat the other team, not to mention calls that may or may not exist. Looking at the tapes, it makes you scratch your head a little bit.”

Referees aside, the Blueshirts need to continue their momentum against the Nashville Predators, who come into the Garden tonight after winning a 2-1 shootout on Long Island on Monday.

Although they have that victory under their belts, it was only the second win for the Predators, who are now 2-3 on the young season.

The Rangers should be ready. The offense has been there and the stats are starting to pile up. With his goal on Monday, Brendan Shanahan now leads the league with seven lights of the lamp, while Jaromir Jagr is tops in assists at nine with Michael Nylander right behind him at eight.

And after stopping 34 shots, Henrik Lundqvist seems to be back in form after slumping for three games. The King took time to get back to basics and was more square on the puck on Monday.

“I talked to Benny [Allaire] and he had me stay back more,” Lundqvist said. “I felt like I was more square to the puck. It’s funny when let in a few goals, you tend to go out and challenge more.”

The goalie and his teammates hope to build on their foundation when the puck drops at 7 p.m. tonight.

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