Finally after a day of waiting, Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust are Rangers, while the team bids goodbuy to Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins.

No matter how Jokinen meshes with Marian Gaborik, this is simply a good trade for the Rangers. They gave up nothing, while getting the cap flexibility for next season if their new No. 1 center leaves as a free agent.

These are the trades general manager Glen Sather needs to make. The Rangers can’t give up their young talent, as that’s the future of the organization, so he has to be nimble and use the bad fits in moves to make the team better.

In this trade, Sather just moved two very disappointing parts, including one that didn’t want to be in New York, and got himself a rental, which could make a huge impact this season. Coach John Tortorella knows Jokinen from his years in Tampa, as the new Ranger was the No. 1 option on the rival Florida Panthers. If anyone knows the enigmatic ex-Islander, it’s Torts. And if there’s a fit with Gaborik, the No. 1 line with Vinny Prospal on the wing, gives the Blueshirts a great scoring combination.

And if there isn’t a fit, then the No. 2 line may get a whole lot better, because there will be some secondary scoring going on, something that has been missing for most of the season.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the Rangers are a perfect team, far from it. It still needs to shed some really bad contracts in Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival and Donald Brashear, but it’s a start, and one that could be a sign of things to come.

Although this looks like a win-win, of course this could go south. No one thought getting Higgins and Kotalik were bad moves over the summer. In fact, this space lauded the arrival of the Smithtown, NY native, but it was not meant to be.

It’s not easy playing in your hometown, which is something Higgins learned very quickly in New York and Kotalik just never fit in with Tortorella, something not many can do. Yet, neither player were life long Rangers, just some spare parts in a greater scheme of things.

Yet, the young players are a different story. Sather must keep his young talent, since that’s the way the organization grows long term. Brandon Dubinsky still needs to grow and Ryan Callahan can improve as well. On the blue line, three young talents in Marc Staal, Michael Del Zotto, and Matt Gilroy are the future. Sure they make their mistakes, but their errors are far less glaring then Redden’s or Rozsival’s.

Maybe in the next month, Sather will be able to move another player or two. It will take a miracle to get rid of Redden’s bloated contract and Brashear appears to found his life in the Blue Seats with the addition of Prust, but sometimes things happen. Who would have thought Scoot Gomez would have been traded after last season or Jokinen and Prust come to New York for a couple of spare parts.

Things happen. And now the Rangers are better for it.

Yet, in less than a year into the John Tortorella regime, the Rangers stand at 14-15-2.

Say what you want about the Rangers abrasive coach, but the fact is that record is not getting the job done. Renney, for all his flaws, knew how to win on Broadway, something many a good coach could not do.

Maybe, we should add Tortorella to that list. He came here with a reputation as the Anti-Renney, an offensive coach, who is as abrasive and outspoken as he is an up-tempo genius. But now he has a team that just can’t score any goals. Just look at the numbers. In the last 19 games dating back to Oct. 28th, 15 times the Rangers scored two goals or fewer.

And, tonight was no exception with the Rangers scoring just two goals in their 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at Madison Square Garden.

“Bottom line, we know we have to win,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist. “We are doing a lot of good things and the work ethic is definitely there. We work really hard. We just come up short a lot of nights. I don’t know what else to say.”

To help Lundqvist out here, the Rangers come up short because they are in an offensive system that doesn’t score. Too many times their all-world goaltender is left naked out there by a very suspect defense filled with two overpriced and underperforming veterans and a bunch of youngsters, who are just learning.  Under Renney this worked, because the trapping system masked defensive deficiencies, but they are now exposed under Tortorella.

And that is where the problem just starts. Every night it’s the same story and over the past few weeks changes started to happen. But frankly, they are the wrong ones. Was it really Stephen Valliquette’s fault that the Rangers are playing so poorly? And why was Matt Gilroy sent down and not Wade Redden or Michal Rozsival?

Tortorella was brought in because Renney was considered too nice to bench or demote any of his high priced veterans., but we have failed to see the tough love given to players like Rozsival, Redden, Chris Drury, or Christopher Higgins, all of whom could use a game or two sitting in the stands and maybe one or two of them should be shown the Hartford shuttle. Yet all are enjoying NHL minutes and NHL meal money on an everyday bases.

Earlier in the year, Tortorella was shocked out the press’s reaction when it comes to benchings, saying it’s “treated like crucifixions” here. But how can anyone take his no-nonsense seriously when he refuses to sit down some of his veteran. His rules seem to just be for the players he can push around and not the ones who deserve it.  But what do you expect from a coach who benched his best agitator in the playoffs last year, only to make a fool out of himself by squirting a bottle on a few fans.

Is there time to turn this around? Of course. But it also means the team needs a personality transplant. They need to bare down and the veterans need to step up and lead this club, or John Tortorella’s Rangers are destined to become a failure, like many other successful coaches when they came to Broadway.

You might remember that one when the Ranger’s GM scrambled to fill his team with Czechs, just to keep Jaromir Jagr, his one superstar, happy. That worked with the Rangers making the playoffs for the first time in seven years.

But since then…Uggh.

The next off-season, Sather signed Matt Cullen, Aaron Ward, and Brendan Shanahan. Sure, Shanny worked out ,but he solicited the Rangers, not the other way around. While Cullen was gone the next season and Ward turned out to be a disaster, coming into camp out of shape and getting into arguments with Jagr.

Then came the signings of Scott Gomez and Chris Drury the following year. If you listen to Sather you can hear him admitting his mistake.

“If you perform up to expectations, play hard every day, game in and game out and be productive, there’s a chance you’ll never be traded,” Sather said.

Gomez was shipped to Montreal on Tuesday.

And then we had last off-season with the bad signings of Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival and Markus Naslund. We all saw how that turned out.

So now with the Rangers signing Marian Gaborik to a five year contract worth $7.5 million a year, you can see where the trepidation comes from. It looks good on paper, but with Sather’s track record in the free agent market it’s hard to get excited.

If healthy, Gaborik gives the Rangers the sniper they needed since Jagr. He’s scored over 30 goals in five of his eight seasons in Minnesota, including 42 goals in 2007-08. But last year was an injury riddled season with hip surgery in January limited him to 17 games last year.

“His health is fine,” Sather kept repeating last night in a conference call. “He came back and played the last (11) games last season, and it hasn’t bothered him since.”

Sorry if I don’t share Sather’s optimism, but with his spotty track record, the Rangers general manager will have to show me proof before I start believing. Each off-season you think the team has enough to make it to the next level, but the season always ends in disappointment.

For this off-season to be a success, Gaborik and Chris Higgins – acquired for Gomez on Tuesday – need to play healthy seasons, while Donald Brashear, who was signed earlier yesterday, needs to play a more controlled game, meaning no suspensions and no stupid penalties.

Otherwise this off-season will be just another typical Ranger July. It looks great on paper, but that all changes when the games are played.

The Rangers will get another opportunity to wrap up the series Sunday afternoon at more friendly Madison Square Garden. It’s advisable that they get it done or face the consequences. Forget the history books that say Washington has never rallied back from an 0-2 deficit or that the Rangers have never blown a series when leading 3-1. That means nothing.

Anyone who’s followed this series knows how much more talented the higher seeded Caps are. The Rangers are still in a winning position because they showed a willingness to get the jersey dirty and Henrik Lundqvist was there for the big saves. Tonight, neither was the case as they got outworked by a determined Washington squad Hell bent on coming back. If Lundqvist was the series’ best player the first four games, tonight it wasn’t to be as he let in four goals on only 14 shots before Steve Valiquette relieved him in garbage time.

On a night John Tortorella gave Sean Avery a game off to think about his selfish penalties, the Rangers on the ice weren’t disciplined enough to give themselves a chance taking two of the game’s first three penalties before the contest was 10 minutes old. That included a retaliatory slash by MIA center Scott Gomez following a clean Alex Ovechkin hit just 76 seconds in setting the tone.

Sure. The Ranger penalty killing unit again blanked the Cap power play keeping them off the scoreboard in seven chances including a ridiculous too many men on the ice bench minor. Ridiculous because at this critical juncture, it shouldn’t be happening.

In between that, fourth liner Matt Bradley victimized the Ranger powerless play scoring the game’s first goal shorthanded 4:58 into the game. Michal Rozsival couldn’t control Boyd Gordon’s hard wheel around falling down to create the problem. Bradley then outhustled Chris Drury, who covered for Wade Redden. Unfortunately, the banged up captain did a poor job allowing Bradley to beat him to the puck and then go in for a breakaway beating Lundqvist with a quick backhand upstairs.

During the regular season, the Rangers were the second worst team at allowing shorthanded goals giving up a preposterous 14 all under Tom Renney before Tortorella took over. It reared its ugly head again at the worst possible time giving the Caps much needed momentum because they weren’t all that impressive in the first getting just six shots on net. Unfortunately, two went in when following an Aaron Voros chance, Bradley somehow beat Lundqvist thru the wickets from a bad angle. Much like Ryan Callahan’s post and Alex Semin’s goal in Game Three, it was a crusher.

If the Blueshirts only got three shots on Simeon Varlamov, who posted his second shutout of the series stopping all 20 he faced, they at least had a couple of opportunities to get on the board. One was the aforementioned Voros, whose shot from 18 feet out Varlamov got a piece of before Bradley came down and scored his second. The other chance came when Brandon Dubinsky got a drop pass from effective linemate Lauri Korpikoski and had the 20 year-old Russian down without a stick. But as he went to tuck the puck in, Varlamov somehow got a shoulder on it keeping it out.

Sadly, that was the extent of the Ranger offense which was plain offensive. Bruce Boudreau must’ve told his club that they were fortunate to be up two because they played much better the rest of the game. Standing up at the blueline forcing the Rangers into bad turnovers, the Caps used their superior speed and skill to attack when they could. Though the shots were held down, the No.2 seed was much better and got rewarded scoring twice more.

Game Three hero Alex Semin scored his series-leading fourth off a faceoff when the puck went off Blair Betts knee right to him. He quickly wired it top shelf past a stunned Lundqvist, who had little chance. They somehow credited Nicklas Backstrom with an assist. He did take the draw following a Ranger icing but didn’t win it and never touched the puck. Go figure. That’s the kinda night it was.

Down three, the Rangers spent the rest of the second chasing the puck. They somehow managed seven shots- one less than the Caps- but none were dangerous. Varlamov may as well have been out for a walk on the beach. Speaking of which, it will be beach weather this weekend.

Unable to threaten the Capitals, the Rangers eventually caved in allowing Ovechkin to score the goal of the playoffs late in the period. Following the invisible man Nikolai Zherdev’s latest turnover after a takedown, here came Ovechkin lifting Wade Redden’s stick before undressing Derek Morris and Voros going to the backhand for an amazing goal. That made it 4-0 with 29 seconds left. This was just a special goal by a special player. It was fitting that it was Ovie because he’s tried so hard this series and had only beaten Lundqvist once despite all the shots.

That ended Lundqvist’s night as Tortorella opted to rest him in preparation for Sunday. A wise move. No sense in letting him get peppered. Keeping him fresh is important and he didn’t see a ton of shots as opposed to how most of this series has gone.

Valiquette was sharp in relief turning aside all seven Washington shots. Between that, the Rangers sat out Drury in the third and took a few message sending penalties including a Dubinsky charge and a Colton Orr double minor for holding and roughing up Semin. Refs Mike Hasenfratz and Don VanMassenhoven did the appropriate thing with 5:46 left giving misconducts to Orr and Voros ending their nights.

Earlier in the stanza, they also kept Donald Brashear under control when he decided he wanted to pick on the smaller Dubinsky, who of course wouldn’t back down. The two each went to the box for roughing but the Capital enforcer got the extra 10.

Credit the refs for doing a good job. They kept things from escalating. That also included a disturbing drunken Cap fan who decided to toss a beer at Tortorella during a late stoppage. Just pathetic. Tort was upset and looked for the fan, who got ejected. Good thing Washington security responded quickly. Something like that should never happen. I don’t know why it did. I’m just glad things were handled well.

Now onto Game Six, which becomes a must win if the Rangers want to advance. We’ll see what they’re made of.

Notes: Scott Gomez had another miserable game held off the scoresheet a fourth straight game with four perimeter shots and went minus-one while dropping 10 of 15 faceoffs in 19:46. … Zherdev was again brutal on the ice for two goals against with just two SOG in 15:23. … Drury took only 13 shifts (7:21) finishing a dismal minus-three while going 4-4 on draws. … Showing plenty of desperation, the Caps blocked 21 shots including four from D Brian Pothier. The Rangers had 11 with Dan Girardi leading the way with three. He and partner Marc Staal played very well each going Even combining for eight hits in 23+ minutes apiece.

… Hits were 35-30 Blueshirts in one of the few categories they came out on top of with Girardi’s five pacing them. Ovechkin and David Steckel each had five. … Washington was stronger in the faceoff circle winning 28-of-49 with Steckel 8-3 and Backstrom 8-5. Dubinsky was the Rangers’ best finishing 7-of-11. … In place of the scratched Avery, Voros played 16 shifts (10:56) including a couple on the powerless play. He had one shot, two hits and was minus-two with 12 PIM. … Game Six is at The Garden with faceoff set for 2:05 Sunday afternoon on NBC.

Old habits die hard. There’s a reason the former Lightning coach took over the NHL’s worst offensive team and it was on display again despite a much more aggressive style that generated plenty of chances.

Most encouraging was the improved play of Wade Redden, who scored the only goal breaking a 58-game drought when he whistled a slap shot through traffic past Vesa Toskala for a power play goal putting the Rangers in front at 10:26 of the second.

The 31 year-old former Senator who has been a bust till this point was much more active jumping up in the play while playing steadily in his end teamed with other underachiever Michal Rozsival, who picked up an assist on his third as did tormented captain Chris Drury.

Though they outplayed and outshot the Leafs significantly (24-12) thru two periods, the Rangers couldn’t increase their lead against a razor sharp Toskala, who finished with 31 saved to help his team to a comeback victory-  allowing Toronto to take the season series for the first time since 2003-04.

Under Tortorella, the Rangers didn’t sit back in the third continuing to press forward with lots of pinching from new look D pair Marc Staal and Dan Girardi who both looked good. Each certainly had opportunities to score as did Drury, who was setup by Nikolai Zherdev with a chance to go up two but stoned by Toskala with the rebound going by his stick.

That’s the kind of season it’s been for Drury who now is in a career worst 16-game goal drought. His effort was much better as well taking the body while working effectively with Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan. Tortorella also moved guys around also trying Dubinsky with Scott Gomez when Zherdev and Markus Naslund weren’t together.

The lack of finishing came back to haunt the Blueshirts as a more aggressive Toronto team got the equalizer when Niklas Hagman beat Staal to a loose puck and then came out and fired topshelf past Henrik Lundqvist for his 19th with 9:39 left in regulation. He scored the winner Sunday night at MSG ending Tom Renney’s reign behind the bench. Mikhail Grabovski and rookie Nikolai Kulemin netted assists.

Despite neither team sitting back, each couldn’t score taking the contest to overtime. Interestingly enough, the Leafs spent the final shift attacking the Rangers with Dom Moore, Jason Blake and Nik Antropov buzzing. However, a make shift line anchored by defensive minded Blair Betts never budged allowing their team to get a valuable point.

The Rangers came close to winning it in OT when Dubinsky got behind the Leaf D but somehow didn’t manage a shot instead opting for a wraparound attempt which was foiled. Next time, just shoot!

Somehow, the refs saw fit to call Ryan Callahan for goalie interference when he was clearly pushed into Toskala. The other night, it was a tacky call on Betts which resulted in the Leaf winner. This time with 2:28 left, the Rangers again had to kill off a garbage call.

Thanks to some aggressive penalty killing including from Rozsival and Staal, the Rangers killed it even getting a chance to win when Staal and Betts came in two-on-one. But Staal’s centering pass for Betts was missed due to an excellent backcheck from Blake.

Perhaps it was fitting that the game went to a shootout where so many have this season. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good omen when Kulemin deked Lundqvist going forehand stick side to give Toronto the only goal they’d need.

Tortorella went with Naslund, Drury and Zherdev. Naslund came the closest but his backhand which got through Toskala just deflected wide. After Lundqvist foiled Hagman’s backhand, Drury’s backhand deke was too predictable easily stuffed.

Lundqvist then forced Grabovski wide into a miss setting the stage for Zherdev. However, the Russian couldn’t deliver with his high offering sailing right into Toskala’s catching glove as the Leafs came out to congratulate him.

Notes: In a different theme, only three Rangers failed to register shots with Betts, Freddy Sjostrom and Dmitri Kalinin not doing so. … Rookie Lauri Korpikoski (9:46) stayed at center anchoring a third line with Nigel Dawes and an effective Petr Prucha (15:45, 3 SOG), who even saw PP time. … Team enforcer Colton Orr got 6:34 nearly scoring on an inspired shift twice but was on for the goal against. … Referred to by his new coach as “the best goalie in the league,” Lundqvist did his part stopping 23 of 24 saves. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.

… If there was a downer aside from the lack of offense, it was in the faceoff circle where the Rangers got destroyed 36-18 with Moore (13-4) and Grabovski (11-2) owning Gomez (7-13) and Drury (5-12). Betts was the Rangers’ best going 4-for-9 while Korpikoski lost six of eight. … No.6 seeded Rangers (31-23-8, 70 Pts) face a big test at home versus No.7 Panthers (30-22-8, 68 Pts) tomorrow night.

… In other notable games, the Flyers shutout the Kings 2-0 suddenly pulling within four of the Devils who get Martin Brodeur back tomorrow night versus Colorado. The Pens got a much needed win 1-0 over the Islanders thanks to a Petr Sykora tally with 2:28 left. They now have 66 points and are two out of eighth and four behind the Rangers.

In a game they had to have essentially to save their coach’s job, the Blueshirts were just blue in the face falling to the Blues in St. Louis 2-1 extending the misery to eight defeats in the last nine (1-6-2). True to form, the league’s ugliest offense saw its collective shadow scoring two goals or less for the eighth time (all defeats) during this putrid stretch.

Also sadly predictable was Tom Renney remaining loyal to overpaid stiffs like Wade Redden, Scott Gomez and captain of this sinking ship Chris Drury while lone goalscorer Lauri Korpikoski and Petr Prucha mysteriously didn’t take one shift in a final period dominated by a hungrier St. Louis club that outshot them 14-4.

It was the Blues who wanted it more and got just reward with 5:14 left when an unchecked B.J. Crombeen got to a Barret Jackman rebound taking seemingly forever before putting one upstairs past a helpless Henrik Lundqvist, who looked visibly disgusted at his teammates.

That was enough to finish the dead team walking who had shifts so sloppy late, it made you wonder if they ever had an organized practice. The lack of cohesion was noticeable with the club struggling to get out of their own end with a Michal Rozsival giveaway handing the Blues the best chance to add an insurance tally.

That’s how little fight they had. Perhaps they saw dead people.

If it truly was the bitter end for Renney, he stuck to his bland system which has derailed this club.  The powerless play again took the collar misfiring in three chances extending it to a mindless 1 for their last 32.

The coach who at the beginning commanded respect and brought it back to the bumbling franchise which humiliated itself not seeing a postseason for a decade clearly has lost this team. While it isn’t all his fault due to Glen Sather’s ineptitude last summer, a change clearly must be made before they take the ice to renew the rivalry with the Islanders.

With the exception of the always effort giving fourth line and a few others, the team has tossed in the towel and is beginning to look like a lot of past Ranger failures which saw overpaid fat cats rule the day with zero accountability as they missed the postseason.

That’s where this sinking ship is headed.

Notes: With D Paul Mara likely done for the season due to sustaining a shoulder injury in a scrap with Arron Asham who showed class stopping Saturday, D Dmitri Kalinin returned to the lineup following six missed games logging 12:13. … Also sticking to his guns to the very end, Renney somehow healthy scratched Nigel Dawes after trying him for two games with Gomez and hooking machine Markus Naslund. Team mascot Aaron Voros was back in and turned into a punching machine in a one-sided fight with ex-Devil Cam Janssen.  Janssen probably got angry watching Orr pound rookie D Tyson Strachan 62 seconds earlier in the second.

… If the axe falls on Renney, his captain Drury went without a goal in 11 straight while Gomez was vacant in nine during the futile stretch that’s put the club in danger of missing the playoffs. … The circus comes back to town Wednesday when the Rangers (30-22-6, 66 Pts) host the Islanders, who ended their latest skid with a 3-2 shootout win over the Penguins with Jeff Tambellini actually netting the winner.

SINGING THE BLUES (NYR Last 9 Games)

1-6-2 Record   13 GF  33 GA  1-for-30 PP

Note: Three games were decided in a shootout including Rangers’ lone win over Washington. Shootout wins weren’t factored into the goal differential.

This is just the way the sports business goes these days as Therrien took the fall for the struggling Pittsburgh Penguins, after leading his team to the Stanley Cup finals last season.

“I owe it to the franchise and the organization to take the steps necessary that I think are best, and that’s what led me to do what I did,” Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero said about the change.

Therrien will be replaced by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Dan Bylsma and it will be his job to turn around the Penguins.

The Pens are in worse shape than the Rangers. They currently sit tenth in the conference with 59 points with no sign of pepping up. But the Rangers are in a free-fall, with 66 points and sixth in the conference. The Blueshirts have just one win in the last eight games and some of the losses have been brutal.

Yet, none are as bad as yesterday’s 5-2 drubbing by the Philadelphia Flyers, where the Rangers let in a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal in the second period. The team is looking lost, and Renney may be the next coach to get the ax if something doesn’t turn around quickly.

“I take full responsibility for where this team is right now,” Renney said. “It comes with the position so my job is to correct this, get us winning, and getting us feeling better about ourselves.”

Renney is just trying to be captain of the ship and it’s not his fault that the personnel on the club have not jelled. This past summer it was general manager Glen Sather who gave the foolish contract to Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival has shown he’s not a $5 million a year player.

And when they signed Scott Gomez and Chris Drury in 2007, it was to have them play with front-line wings like Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan. As we have seen this season, neither can step up with the spotlight shine upon them.

Also, can you blame Renney for Sather signing so many back-end forwards? Dan Fritche was a bust and Aaron Voros has not become Sean Avery, who now may be back in a few weeks. Patrick Rissmiller was so bad that no team wanted him on waivers, although the cost would be minimal.

Frankly, the only reason why the team has a sixth place standing is the play of Henrik Lundqvist, who has been hung out to dry too many times by his defense.

Even the Ranger players don’t want to see their coach fall. “They’re not the ones on the ice,” Drury said of Sather and Renney. “We put the jerseys on. They give us guidelines on what our system is on what the scouring report is on what the game plan is [but] we’ve got to execute it. Clearly, a 5-2 loss at home we’re not executing.”

So you can’t blame Renney, but unfortunately he may not get a chance to turn it around. Although unfair, a coaching change may have to take place, with assistant general manager Jim Schoenfeld possibly taking the bench. A new voice may make the team respond in a positive way. It has worked in the past for a number of clubs, including the Mets last summer when Jerry Manuel took over for Willie Randolph.

It’s unfortunately if Renney does take the fall. He has done a tremendous job with the Rangers over the past three seasons and now – as this space has advocated in the past – deserves to have a chance to turn around the team.

But if Therrien’s firing teaches us anything, it’s that every coach is one step away from the unemployment line.

Sidney Crosby and the Pens locked up the Blueshirts in the third last night. (Jim Leary/NYSD)

For 40 minutes, nothing separated the Rangers and Pens at Mellon Arena. Locked up at one, it looked like another battle between Atlantic rivals would be decided by the next goal.

Instead, Sidney Crosby and the Pens had other ideas outscoring a lackluster Blueshirt team 5-1 doubling them up in shots 16-8 as part of a humiliating third en route to a 6-2 laugher.

It was the kind of brutal 20 minutes that can get a coach fired. Although, Tom Renney doesn’t have anything to worry about.

With the score tied at one – on goals by Nikolai Zherdev (first in 14 games) and one-time Ranger Petr Sykora (1 of 2 markers) – the free fall started surprisingly when Jordan Staal wasn’t taken off the puck by Michal Rozsival and flipped a harmless sharp angle shot which somehow eluded an asleep Henrik Lundqvist giving the Pens a 2-1 lead 71 seconds into the stanza.

It only got worse from there as the normally reliable fourth line was victimized when Freddy Sjostrom mistakenly went to Crosby, who then dished across for a cutting Kris Letang who moved in and wristed one upstairs from 14 feet out for a two-goal lead 5:07 later.

For two periods, no Ranger had taken a minor penalty with only a battle renewed between enforcers Colton Orr and Eric Godard with the former Isles’ goon getting the decision. But in probably their worst period of the season, they lost discipline taking unnecessary penalties including Dmitri Kalinin’s delay of game which handed the Pens a two-man advantage.

Even the vaunted top ranked PK couldn’t prevent the high powered Pittsburgh attack from increasing the margin to three when Sykora banged one through Lundqvist from Crosby and Ryan Whitney at 10:01.

Just like that, they were down three in a place they rarely win. Marc Staal got one back with a nice finish off a four-on-four rush from Scott Gomez and Markus Naslund slicing it to 4-2 with still 6:05 to play. It snapped a 33-game drought for the brother of Jordan.

Instead of getting any momentum for one last push, the Rangers again came unglued when Kalinin put forth a poor effort failing to recover a Gomez pass allowing Letang to go the other way and undress Paul Mara going forehand to beat Lundqvist, who for some reason didn’t look set. Pascal Dupuis and Crosby assisted at 16:21 putting the contest out of reach.

For good measure, on a night he was banged around and probably wasn’t 100 percent, Crosby put the exclamation point on the victory by taking a Evgeni Malkin feed and blindly roofing a backhand past Lundqvist for his 18th and fourth point of the period with 1:40 left.

The kind a superstar scores.

There were just too many inconsistencies on the ice, as the whistles stayed in the zebras’ pockets for most of the game, but then came out in the third against the home team, while the Habs kept enjoying taking liberties.

It was so glaring that coach Tom Renney – a man who usually reserves comment about the officials – lashed out against the on-ice arbiters after the match.

“I think we had the game in control and we lost control because we didn’t get the calls we thought we should have,” Renney said. “It’s tough playing the game, let alone referee it. What we did is was get a little off track when not getting what we thought we deserved.”

It wasn’t the non-calls that bothered the coach or the team, but rather the inconsistencies of the penalties. For the first 29 minutes of the game, the whistles stayed in the pockets at both teams took liberties on the ice. And after 40 minutes of play – and a 2-2 score – only one infraction was blown, when Michal Rozsival took a hooking call at the 11 minute mark of the second.

No, that didn’t bother the Rangers, who thought the first 40 minutes was a continuation of their 4-0 win on Monday night. It was in the third where all things went haywire when the Blueshirts took three visits to the sin bin in the first 4:12 of the period.

It started when Aaron Voros has a hooking call at 2:29, which resulted in the game winner just three second later, Andre Markov shot Tomas Plekanec’s faceoff win past Henrik Lundqvist to give the Canadiens the lead for good.

“From the description I got [the penalty] was a little mysterious,” Renney said.

After that tough break, there were not one, but two calls against the Rangers on Ryan Callahan and Scott Gomez, giving Montreal a 1:25 5-on-3 power play which Robert Lang was able to convert just 28 seconds in.

Yet, those calls are the breaks and, true to form, Renney took some of the blame about the officiating.

“I don’t care about the calls against us,” he said. “I am ok with there. But there are calls out there we certainly thought were penalties.

“Maybe I got to be more vocal and get a call or two. It seems to work for other teams so maybe I should do that.”

Even if he rants and raves on the bench, the Rangers need to still play a little bit better hockey. Although there was poor refereeing, the Blueshirt did have a chance to at least tie the game after Rozsival made it 4-3 just two minutes later. But they couldn’t stop Lang, who scored with about 4:30 left and then on an empty netter to make it a 6-3 final.

“As a team, we played really well, but you can’t expect to win, when I give up five goals,” said Lundqvist who had 19 saves on the night. “I didn’t play really bad, but I need to play better.”

The loss put the Rangers in a tie for first with Philadelphia [both have 51 points] for tops in the Atlantic Division, but because of the Flyers two games in hand, the Blueshirts are actually now in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, after leading for most of the season.

Notes: Lang had the hat trick on the night…The King of Queens Kevin James was attendance plugging his new movie Mall Cop…The Rangers now go on the road for five games and come back on the 20th for a match against the Anaheim Ducks.