“It wasn’t like I asked to go.  I loved my time here,” Gomez said, before the two goals apiece by Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky lifted the Rangers to a much-needed 6-2 victory at Madison Square Garden last night.

“Having some familiarity with Brian [Gionta, who played with Gomez in New Jersey] and myself [the last two seasons in New York] has made his transition a little easier,” added Paul Mara, the bearded defenseman who moved on to Montreal after New York did not tender a free agent contract.

“Scotty has an infectious personality that everyone around him can enjoy.”

Except the Garden fans, who booed Gomez whenever he touched the puck.  Apparently, they did not feel he was worthy of the $51.5 million, seven-year contract he signed on July 1, 2007.

Gomez, a playmaking center, had 58 points and a -2 rating in 77 games last season; it was his first negative campaign since 2001-02.  Just one day before his second anniversary with the Rangers, he was jettisoned to Montreal, largely for Christopher Higgins.  The money New York saved was ultimately used to sway free agent Marian Gaborik.

On this evening, Gomez and his mates, currently on the fringe of the Eastern Conference playoff race, encountered a Ranger squad that had tallied exactly one goal in its last three games.

Following consecutive shutout losses on Garden ice, New York dropped a 4-1 decision last night in St. Louis.  Its lone scoring play featured Brian Boyle’s fourth goal and Aaron Voros’ second assist, which spoke volumes about the lack of overall scoring.  That was all the Rangers had mustered over the last 172 minutes, of game time, or nearly three hours of real time since winning 3-1 in Boston on January 9.

Until tonight, when Callahan opened his career-best four-point game by tipping Marian Gaborik’s goalmouth pass behind Jaroslav Halak just 57 seconds into the second period.   By the end of the stanza, Dubinsky had added two goals, including the Rangers’ fifth shorthanded tally of the season.

Gomez, whose personal four-game point streak was snapped, admitted to not “keeping tabs” on the Rangers’ helter-skelter season, instead looking to focus on what is required for the Canadiens to finish among the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference.

“It just means every game is a playoff game. But, we’re just starting to get healthy, so we’ll take it from there.”

Coincidentally, there is exactly where his former team is also looking to finish.

[ John J. Buro is the author of “Open Court: A Year With the New York Knicks”, which is now available through www.opencourtbook.com. ]

Last night’s game against the Islanders was a call to arms for the Rangers. Are they are a team or are they just a collection of overpaid veterans just looking to collect their check?

After benching Wade Redden and Ales Kotalik, the Rangers responded and thanks to an ill advised Islander starting of a very tired Dwayne Roloson, who gave up three goals on the Rangers first five shots in their eventual 5-2 win.

“I think, collectively, as a team, we responded well and everybody realized what they had to do,” right wing Ryan Callahan, who scored two goals in the match, said. “I think it’s a little bit of both. Obviously, Hank is the backbone of this team and he made some key saves.”

Lundqvist made sure the Rangers had a chance as he stopped the Islander onslaught during the first 10 minutes of the game when the Isles outshot the Rangers 10-1. Being up for the challenge, Lundqvist kept the Rangers in the match as his teammates got their legs.

“It’s happened a lot of times in this building,” Lundqvist said. “They come out flying and we have a tough time settling in. It was important for me personally and for the team to stay in there. I don’t know how we had the lead after the first period, but we did.”

But a win is a win and the Rangers will now move forward with maybe with a new found lease on life. There’s no word on Redden and Kotalik, both of who sat in the press box for the match. After a shouting match between the defenseman and coach John Tortorella, Redden was worked out by assistant coach Mike Sullivan and then expressed his displeasure to the media.

“Not real pleased about it, honestly,” Redden said.  “To be singled out – I know the team’s going through struggles and everyone’s got to be better.  The fact that I’m sitting out – I mean, I’m not real happy about it.”

Redden acted like he was losing money here, but let’s remember his $39 million contract will still be paid even if he’s sitting on the bench. And for him to be “singled out” is a joke, because he’s been playing this way for a year and a half.

Yet, you have to blame Sather for that signing, yet he will still get paid as well. Even though some morning show commentators were saying he was set to get canned, the Rangers president’s job is safe for now.

And you can look for Tortorella to go as well, but at least the coach has abandoned his old offense first mantra and started to do some neutral zone trapping over the past two weeks.

So, all is well for one night at least as the Rangers try to save the season. But is this just one night or a start of something big?

We will soon find out.

The Blueshirts played hard last night, especially in the third period, but John Tortorella’s crew just couldn’t score on the power play, as they went 0-5 on the night, including an 0-3 in the third period.

“Well we can say it is unfair…whatever,” Tortorella said. “We just came away empty.  I thought it was important tonight that we get consecutive games.  I thought we played two good games.  You just want to get something out of it, at least a point out of it but we didn’t.  We just have to fight through it.  We fought through it after a shaky start.  We will just get back at it.”

You probably have heard this story before. This is a team that’s built for offense, but only has one scorer, and since they sacrifice the defensive end, Henrik Lundqvist is left naked out there in the crease.

And last night’s game personified that problem. Although the team played very hard, the Red Wings were determined to keep Marion Gaborik off the board, leaving it in the hands of the rest of the Rangers, who could only muster a goal by Brian Boyle in the first period.

Without any other scoring, the team was left fighting for opportunities. Sean Avery missed an open net in the third and Ryan Callahan was stopped on a penalty shot.

“I thought I had him,” Callahan said. “I did the move the way I wanted to, but he just came up with a toe save.”

Now, they did look better in the past two games on defense, allowing Lundqvist to do his job.

“ I like the way we play in our own zone,” Lundqvist said.  “It feels like we are more in control and we are not running around too much and guys are doing a good job with that.  We have calmed down a little bit.  You don’t feel like you have to cover up for anyone else.  They are doing a good job coming back.  That is a good thing and something we will keep on doing.  We played well enough in our zone and in the defensive zone to win this game.”

But these aren’t Tom Renney’s Rangers who are built to keep goals off the board; this is Tortorella’s team, which is failing to come through in the clutch.

And that’s the story this year. Too many times the team has failed to come through in the clutch, just drifting along through the first two months of the season hoping for some consistency.

The Rangers All-Star netminder said on David Letterman’s top 10, “Who can concentrate on hockey when Jennifer Aniston still hasn’t found love.”

Apparently, after the Blueshirts nifty 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators to open the Garden this season, it’s Lundqvist who proved himself wrong.

“Yeah I guess so,” Lundqvist laughed “I’m trying. We can’t blame her for any mistakes out there.”

Of course we kid and Lundqvist was reading a pre-written line on the late night talk show. Yet, there’s no mistaking the goalie’s skill in tonight’s game, especially in the second when he shoved away 19 of 20 shots (32 of 34 overall), as the Rangers outscored Ottawa 3-1 en route to their victory.

And in scoring their three goals, the Blueshirts were able to score their first two goals by Vinny Prospal and Brandon Dubinsky on their first three shots against Pascal LeClaire, who looked a little rusty out there, especially against the Ranger rushes.

“We need to button up something along the way here,” said Rangers coach John Tortorella. “We have a young defense, some forwards, who are new. We need to button up some things along the way. We stayed with it, but we gave up some chances. We have some work to do.”

Of course there’s work to do, but a lot of good happened. Dubinsky scored two goals and was close to another at 12:04 in the third when he had a breakaway and hit the side post. But Marian Gaborik was able to bank it in for the tally to make it 4-1.

And that came after Michael Del Zotto who scored his first NHL goal with 51 second left in the second period on a shot from the point which was screened by Ryan Callahan. It was so important, Tortorella said, “I thought the most important play of the game was Cally screening the goalie on the third goal.”

The combination of Prospal, Dubinsky and Gaborik starred for the Rangers. It looked so good that it hearkened back to that 2005-06 line that Jaromir Jagr starred on. How long it lasts? Who knows. But Tortorella likes what he sees.

“I see them working off one another and I think it’s a nice combination with those three,” the coach said. “How long it stays that way, you never know. It comes and goes sometimes when you’re dealing with forward lines. I know (Dubinsky) the center iceman is one happy guy that he gets to play with pretty good guys like that.”

Then Tortorella gave a warning by saying, “I hope he doesn’t screw it up.”

And Dubinsky better listen, because he won’t have Jennifer Aniston to blame if it happens.

Notes: The Blue Man Group introduced the Rangers with a short drum set…The Blueshirts came out as a group before the game, instead of getting introduced one by one…The win marks the Rangers fifth straight win in the Garden opener, a new franchise record….The Blueshirts are on the road for a week visiting New Jersey and Washington before coming back next Sunday to play Anaheim…The game will have a 5 p.m. start.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 35 shots allowing Ryan Callahan’s first period tally to hold up in a stunning 1-0 Game Two win over Washington at Verizon Center earlier today- letting the Rangers grab a commanding 2-0 series lead with Games 3 and 4 shifting to Madison Square Garden.

If the way they stole Game One was surprising, then the incredible poise they showed in silencing one of the game’s brightest stars and most potent offenses was equally as shocking. For after letting Alex Ovechkin fire shot after shot Wednesday, the Rangers were much better prepared for the league’s leading finisher, limiting him to six shots which were all challenged. They frustrated the Russian superstar who with the exception of a crossbar off the one great chance he had was kept in check.

That along with the Rangers remaining more disciplined taking only three penalties which they killed off allowed them to win a game most including myself didn’t expect them to. The forwards competed. The defense bent but never broke. And the goalie was unflappable. If the latter isn’t in Washington’s heads, then he’s awfully close after standing tall in denying all 16 shots sent his way in a frantic third.

Entering this series, Lundqvist needed to be the best player for the Rangers to have a realistic chance of pulling the upset. So far, he’s delivered by turning aside 67 of 70 shots. That included a huge stop on Nicklas Backstrom from the slot when the uncanny Swede used his mask to thwart one of the best Cap chances late. It’s that kind of caliber goaltending that’s allowed the Rangers to believe they can win this series.

Now, they’re in the driver’s seat coming home for what should be an amped up New York crowd. How they handle prosperity for the first time since earlier this season will go a long way to determining the outcome.

They got the lone goal in probably their worst period of the day when Callahan converted a two-on-one Markus Naslund feed going upstairs on rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov, who made the start in place of an ineffective Jose Theodore. It was the only goal he gave up finishing with a respectable 23 saves in his playoff debut.

Brandon Dubinsky started the play inside his own blueline catching Ovechkin and Mike Green deep springing Naslund and Callahan for the odd-man rush. The key defensive play along the boards by the Game One hero led to Naslund going wide before setting Callahan up perfectly for his first at 7:44. The Caps would get 13 shots in another strong first limiting the Blueshirts to only six but they had the one that mattered which allowed them to play their game.

If they weren’t good in the first 20 minutes, that changed as the Rangers began to take control in the second forcing Cap turnovers and establishing a forecheck. Something which was missing in the first game despite the outcome. It eventually led to four straight Capital penalties with Viktor Kozlov guilty of two. But the Ranger power play which was a huge surprise in Game One returned to form that saw them rank second to last during the season. The lack of a power play goal meant that they had no working margin.

It was the Ranger D which did the job keeping the Caps to the outside. In fact, they only tested Lundqvist six times in the middle stanza with nothing significant. Even a couple of late power plays didn’t generate much with the No.1 ranked PK keeping the Capitals guessing. Blair Betts, Freddy Sjostrom, Dubinsky and Callahan were splendid. So too were much maligned Wade Redden along with Michal Rozsival, who each had a second strong game. Marc Staal and Dan Girardi were also better. Paul Mara and Derek Morris played well.

Led by the blueline, the Rangers again sacrificed their bodies getting in the path of 29 Cap shots including four from a strong Girardi, Morris and Betts. Three also came from a less than 100 percent captain Chris Drury, who returned with whatever was bothering him. He only took two draws but played a gutty 22 shifts (15:25) showing the kind of leadership necessary to advance at this crucial time of year.

Predictably, the Capitals were better in the third period testing Lundqvist often. But the Rangers did a solid job allowing him to see the puck. Whatever he saw, he stopped. That included his biggest of the game on Backstrom with under four minutes left when he got a step on Redden getting a good shot off in the slot. But Lundqvist as he often does got a mask on it.

The Caps’ best opportunity came when Backstrom got a stick on Staal as he was making an outlet pass from behind his own net. The turnover almost proved costly as it came right to Alexander Semin who quickly centered for an open Ovechkin, whose shot nicked Lundqvist’s best friend, the crossbar leaving the 2007-08 Hart winner to shake his head in disbelief.

Desperate, Washington pulled Varlamov for an extra attacker with a minute to go. But it was a determined group of Rangers who wouldn’t allow them to get the kind of quality chance it would take to beat Lundqvist. Rozsival made a key defensive play breaking up a rush and Nik Antropov, who was stellar defensively cleared the zone as time wound down- allowing the Rangers to congratulate Lundqvist, who recorded his third career postseason shutout.

Three Stars:

3rd Star-Markus Naslund, NYR (assist, 2 hits, 2 takeaways, +1 in 15:32)

2nd Star-Ryan Callahan, NYR (GW goal 7:44 of 1st, 3 SOG, 2 hits, 2 blocked shots, 2 takeaways, +1 in 20:41)

1st Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (35 saves incl. 16 in 3rd, 3rd career playoff SHO)

Notes: After getting 13 of his 28 shots on goal in Game One, Ovechkin was held to just six SOG in 22:50 finishing minus-one. In an oddity, he and Green combined for 12 giveaways- half of the Caps’ glaring 24. By comparison, the Rangers had only seven all game. … Rangers showed improvement in the faceoff circle going 28-for-60 with Gomez (11-9) their best. Betts went 9-11 and Dubinsky was 6-7. For Washington, Backstrom went a dominant 13-6 and David Steckel was 4-1. … The Blueshirts held a slight edge in hits 23-20 with Dubinsky and Sean Avery (4) leading the charge while Ovechkin’s five paced everyone. … The Rangers’ 29 blocks were 16 better than the Caps, who countered with four players posting two. … Aaron Voros was a healthy scratch and Donald Brashear again satout for the Caps. Bruce Boudreau made one other change dressing D Brian Pothier for Jeff Schultz (upper body).

… Game Three is Monday at 7 ET at The Garden and can be seen on MSG locally. Versus and TSN are also covering it. … There are three other games later including Game Two between the top seeded Bruins and No.8 Canadiens going off at 8 on Versus. The B’s lead the series 1-0. Out West, defending champ Detroit looks to make it two for two against Columbus less than an hour from now on NHL Network/TSN. The Blackhawks will aim for two straight at 9 ET against the Flames.

“Congratulations to the players,” said head coach John Tortorella in the postgame press conference. “They have fought through it the past couple of months here, [through] ups and downs, lots of things going on around the team-but they found a way. They set themselves up to win one more home game to get in and they got it accomplished.”

The Rangers did all their scoring in the first period, drawing first blood after only eight seconds of play on a contentious goal that probably should have been called off. Markus Naslund stole the puck in the Flyers zone and, after passing to Ryan Callahan via Chris Drury, rushed the net where he would up jamming it past Philadelphia goaltender Martin Biron. After reviewing the play, the officials let the goal stand, presumably because there was no hard evidence that Biron had covered the puck before Naslund struck it.

The early goal was exactly what the Garden crowd ordered. Even before the puck dropped the noise was comparable, if not louder, than it had been at nearly any point this season, including Adam Graves night.

Fired on by the crowd, the Rangers doubled their lead at 12:06 of the opening period. Callahan got his 22^nd goal of the season, tipping in a Derek Morris slap shot from the blue line. “Mo shot from the point, I tried to get a stick on it and was lucky enough to,” Callahan said about the goal. “That was really big to get two quick ones. It kinda calmed us down a bit.”

The Rangers clearly owned the first period and could have led by three or even four goals. But Morris picked up a tripping penalty late in the period and New York was forced to start the second with a man disadvantage. The Flyers dominated the powerplay and, though they did not get a goal, clearly took control of the tempo of the game. Daniel Briere’s powerplay goal at 9:14 was the logical consequence. The Rangers had clearly lost steam and were pinned in to their end most of the period. Only in the final minutes did they appear to get back on their feet.

The catalyst was once more Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers All Star goalie, who simply got better as the game wore on. The Swedish backstop faced 38 shots on the night, saving all but one. The most spectacular-a glove save from point blank range-came at 4:28 of the final period, when the Blueshirts were struggling to hang in the game. “I don’t know if it was the turning point,” Lundqvist said when the idea was suggested to him afterwards. “As a goalie, when it’s a 2-1 game, it’s fun because every save can be the difference…I did my job and here we are.”

The final minutes were tense and the Rangers also got lucky, with the post and crossbar sparing the team the equalizing goal. New York also had to face another shorthanded situation, when Markus Naslund was called for interfering with Biron, but managed to kill the penalty. In the final two minutes, the Rangers forecheckers did their job superbly, keeping Philadelphia from advancing past neutral ice and preventing John Stevens from pulling his goaltender for an extra skater. The final minute was pure bedlam; the Garden crowd on its feet, Rangers players throwing themselves into shots.

“We fought it for a little bit there. We were under siege for awhile,” said Tortorella. “But we just kept on fighting and tried to figure out some way to get through the game and win it.”

Mission accomplished. After firing Tom Renney Feb. 23, the team has gone 11-7-2 under Tortorella. Would the Rangers have made the playoffs with Renney? “Who knows? That’s one of those questions you’ll never know,” said Scott Gomez.

Notes: By a unanamous vote, Renney was named this year’s Good Guy for his cooperation with the media, as voted on by the New York chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, while Henrik Lundqvist was named team MVP.

“Going into the third, you’d think a team down 4-1 would kind of ease up, but no not them,” said Scott Gomez, who was prepared for more of the same the final 10 games of the season. “All the teams we play from now it’s just the way it is. Guys are playing for the playoffs, if they’re out of the race they’re playing for their jobs next year.”

After Lydman’s goal, Henrik Lundqvist turned in some key saves before Ryan Callahan scored an empty netter at 19:35 to clinch it for the Rangers. For Callahan it was his second goal of the game and 19^th of the season, already a career high. Asked about closing in on 20 goals for the first time in his career Callahan said “it’s nice. I struggled a bit last year with the injury and then I came back not too well and then this year I thought I’ve been playing pretty well. Just being able to put the puck in the net is a big thing for me.”

While Callahan’s second goal was easy coming as it did into the empty net, his first was anything but. Skating in his own zone “I heard Dubi [Brandon Dubinsky] block a shot and took a quick peak and just took off,” he recalled afterwards. Dubinsky found the tape of Callahan’s stick with an inch-perfect pass just on the Buffalo side of the red line with nobody between him and Sabres goalie Patrick Lalime. Callahan deeked to his left and swerved to his right, before putting the puck in the Buffalo net.

For Callahan, the two goals were a nice 23^rd birthday present, though this fact was lost on his coach. “I didn’t even know it was his birthday,” John Tortorella admitted after the game. “I coach him. I’m not too personally involved with him as far as birthdays.”

Tortorella was not particularly troubled with the team nearly blowing a three goal lead in the third period. “I look at it as a win,” he said of the game. “You’re not going to play perfect games. We found a way to win a hockey game at a very important time of the year.”

Buffalo’s head coach Lindy Ruff was not disappointed at his team’s effort either. “Nobody quit-nobody’s going to quit,” he said. “We made a couple of mistakes. They weren’t mistakes from playing poorly; it was from playing aggressive.”

Buffalo’s aggression backfired when Clarke MacArthur was called for a slashing penalty at 2:21 of the third period. Two minutes earlier, just 18 seconds into the period, MacArthur had scored the Sabres’ second goal . Moments before the penalty Rangers goalie the Sabres came perilously close to scoring their third. In retrospect, the MacArthur’s penalty may have been the finel turning point in the game.

The Sabres now face an uphill battle to qualify for the playoffs. The team is five points behind the Montreal Canadiens and eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo will have to leapfrog the ninth-placed Florida Panthers first, whom they trail by four points. Not much room for error for the team from Lake Erie.

With the win the Rangers have a three point cushion on Montreal. New York is one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes and sixth place in the Eastern Conference-a difference it can make up by beating the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night. The Rangers have two games in hand over the ‘Canes.

In less than a calendar year, Jack Hillen played his first game, logged his first assist and scored his first NHL goal all against the Rangers. For a 23-year-old defenseman who was playing college hockey a year ago, that trifecta must resonate. Right?

“Boy, I didn’t even think about about that,” Hillen said with a laugh. “You know what, it is what it is, I never really thought about it.”

But Hillen is indeed a cerebral player and one aware of his surroundings. And almost half the Islanders roster entering Saturday’s home matinee against the Devils spent part of the season in AHL Bridgeport.

With Andy Sutton injured and Brendan Witt finishing a five-game suspension, Hillen is being entrusted to provide depth. That’s the same predicament teammates like Andrew MacDonald, Jesse Joensuu, Joe Callahan and Joel Rechlicz are in, getting the call-up from the minor leagues after injuries and two trades jettisoned veterans Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie and 24-year-old defenseman Chris Campoli. An influx of prospects actually puts Hillen, who has played 24 career games, in the middle of the pack on the roster when it comes to NHL experience.

“I knew the feeling before my first game,” Hillen said. “I was pretty nervous. And this year I looked around and I’m like, ‘I’ve played with him, him and him in Bridgeport.’ There’s nothing to be nervous about. We’re all in the same boat.

“It’s just an opportunity for guys. Everybody’s played well. Hopefully whoever comes up and plays well can keep it going and try and earn a spot for themselves.”

Hillen scored his first career NHL goal against the Rangers, cutting a two-goal lead into a 3-2 deficit before Markus Naslund secured the Blueshirts 4-2 victory Thursday night. Coach Scott Gordon has emphasized defensemen responsibly joining the offensive rush, looking for opportunities to jump into the play in the offensive zone without giving up off-man rushes. That strategy worked on Hillen’s marker when Dean McAmmond’s initiated the play with his pass off the sideboards.

Gordon said Hillen’s goal was indicative of his philosophy and stressed he doesn’t want his defensemen to just indiscriminately leave their post and take an offensive-zone chance.

“We want our defensemen to join the attack whenever the opportunity presents itself,” Gordon said. “In saying that, there has to be responsibility to back it up. That’s the thing that’s most pleasing about it. The first part of the year, we weren’t being responsible. We didn’t have the back-pressure or the back-check. Now, we’re a lot more responsible in those areas.”

Added Hillen on his goal: “Dean made a great pass to me off the wall and I went wide and waited for some support,” Hillen said about his goal. “When the opportunity presents itself, I’m definitely going to try and jump up in the play because that’s a part of my game and that’s part of what [Gordon] wants me to do.”

Hillen barely played more than 13 minutes a game when he first came up from Bridgeport. The former Colorado College standout, who completed his economics degree right after playing two games (both against the Rangers) at the end of last season, is taking an increased role and said he is using a teammate as a model both on and office the ice. Mark Streit, the Isles only All-Star, is also a defenseman yet leads the club with 45 points.

On a club that is 20-37-7 and has allowed 54 more goals than its scored, Streit’s plus-3 rating underscores his incredibly productive season. Streit is also a good role model for Hillen since both have similar body types in addition to a penchant for joining the offense: Hillen is just one inch shorter than Streit’s listed height of six feet and both are listed as close to 200 pounds.

“I’m just trying to learn how to be a professional athlete,” said Hillen, who registered five points and a plus-1 rating through his first 24 games. “I’m trying to learn from Mark Streit; the way he carries himself and how everybody acts in a professional manner.”

Bentivoglio opened the scoring two minutes into the first period when he converted on a rebound chance in the slot for his sixth goal of the season.  Joe Callahan and Chris Lee had the assists on the goal, giving the Sound Tigers the 1-0 lead.  Segal, evened the score with less than a minute to play in the opening frame.  Radek Smolenak sent the puck into the left corner where Segal was able to retrieve the bouncing puck.  Segal looked up for a pass and then snapped a shot on goal that snuck through Sound Tigers’ starting goalie Tobias Stephan’s legs for his 17^th goal of the season to tie the score at 1-1.

Segal would give Norfolk their first lead of the game 12:27 into the second period.  The goal was Segal’s 18^th of the game and Smolenak had the lone assist on the tally, giving the Admirals a 2-1 lead.

The Sound Tigers would start the third period on the power-play and 29 seconds in, Walter would tie the score at two.  Lee fired a slap-shot on Helenius who made the save but allowed the puck to fall in front of him.  Mike Iggulden had the first whack at the loose puck before Walter was able to jam the puck through the Admirals’ net-minder for his 12^th tally of the season.

In the extra session, Fraser would tally the game-winner with only 20 seconds remaining in overtime.  Norfolk won a face-off in the Sound Tigers’ zone but the puck was misplayed by the Admirals and sent the length of the ice.  Trevor Smith got to the puck in the left corner and rimmed it around the boards to McLean on the right wing.  McLean snapped the puck towards the net that deflected off of Smith in front and came to Fraser at the back-door.  Fraser gathered the puck and ripped a snap-shot that eluded Helenius to win the game for the Sound Tigers, 3-2.

Stephan finished the game with 23 saves on 25 shots while Helenius turned aside 42 Sound Tiger shots to earn the game’s third star.  The Sound Tigers were 1-for-5 on the man-advantage and 3-for-3 on the penalty-kill.

The Sound Tigers will hit the road for the next three games starting tomorrow night when they visit their Connecticut neighbors, the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7 p.m.  Friday, the Albany River Rats will welcome the Sound Tigers into the Times Union Center in Albany, NY as the two East Division rivals meet at 7 p.m.  The following night, the Sound Tigers will play their only game at the MassMutual Center against the Springfield Falcons at 7 p.m.  Sunday, the Sound Tigers will return to Arena at Harbor Yard to face-off against the Portland Pirates.  Game-time is set for 1 p.m.  For tickets or information on how to receive group discounts, contact the team’s front office at (203) 334-GOAL or e-mail info@soundtigers.com.

And in the end, the Rangers were able to come through. A 5-4 shootout win, against a strong Washington team, allowed a desperate Ranger squad some breathing room and maybe a lifeline to build upon.

“I thought it was the most desperation we have shown in a long time,” said Ranger captain Chris Drury. “We kept battling back. We were down one, kept battling back. We had some good chances in the third period.”

Maybe this will be the watershed game for the Rangers, one that will drive them the rest of the season. As much as the team needed any kind of win, this was a quality affair by the home team. The scoring came from the young, talented Lauri Korpikoski and Ryan Callahan, while the top line of Scott Gomez, Markus Naslund and Nigel Dawes shoed some real life against Washington.

“It means a lot, especially coming back home,” said Callahan, who was pretty much the Rangers top player of the evening, with a goal, an assist and the ultimate shootout tally. “We haven’t been playing our best hockey, that’s no secret. Five losses in a row, so coming home with the home crowd and getting a win like this – I think it is a real motivation for us to get going here.”

The Rangers showed how fired up they were right off the bat. Almost five minutes in, the heavy weight bout of Colton Orr and Donald Brashear came to a draw, with the undercard of Aaron Voros fighting Mike Bradley following just a few seconds later. It fired up the capacity crowd, looking for anything to cheer.

“We are the physical presence on the team, along with [Callahan] and [Dubinsky],” Voros said. “Hopefully it gave our team a little bit of a jump.”

It may have with Callahan scoring the first goal a few minutes later. But Washington came back with two goals of their own to take the lead after one.

Yet, to their credit the Rangers came back with Korpikoski scoring on the Rangers first shot of the second 8:49 in and then having Naslund and Paul Mara score later in the period. Only Mike Green – who tied Mike O’Connell’s mark of goals in seven games in a row, set for the Boston Bruins back 1984 – had two in the second to allow the Washington to tie it.

And there it stayed, only because the Rangers seemed content to enter their power play in the dog show. Unable to score on five third period extra mans, the game went to overtime, where the Rangers finally came through in the shootout.

“We needed that,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 26 of 30 shots on the night. “We needed that confidence. We needed those points. We battled, we played hard. You get a lot of energy and confidence from scoring. I don’t remember the last time we scored four goals. It’s definitely good for our confidence.”

Notes: Although they lost five games in a row, the Rangers gained points in eight of their last 13 games (6-5-2) and are now 30-20-5 overall…The Rangers are 17-6-2 when scoring first… Callahan had  his second multiple-point performance of the season, having registered two goals vs. the Capitals on December 23… Korpikoski notched his second career multiple-point effort with one goal and one assist to earn First Star honors; he has recorded three points (two goals and one assist) in the last three home games… Lundqvist improved his record to 25-16-4 overall and 15-8-3 at home; he is now 8-2 in the shootout this season with a .800 save percentage (24-for-30).