Another third period comeback, followed by another shootout win, gave the Rangers a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden.

This time the Blueshirts were down 1-0 going into the third before they were able to strike. But much like the last few games at MSG, the Rangers had to endure two tough periods before a fire was lit fire under their skates.

Although it’s been working, it’s something coach Tom Renney knows won’t last.

“I think what we have done in the last couple of game is minimize the opportunities our opponent has had in the first two periods,” said coach Tom Renney. “We haven’t been able to turn it the other way and go light the lamp at the other end of the rink. I think we have solidified parts of our game. We need to be more of an attacking team.”

Be that as it may, the Rangers still played well enough to get the two points. This time thanks to Freddie Sjostrom, whose hard work with Blair Betts, enabled the team to tie the game at 7:17 of the third.

“We were fired up and we were going to have to win this no matter what,” Sjostrom said. “Everybody excelled and played really hard tonight. We started to play more physical in the third and that’s our game.”

Of course, none of these comebacks could happen if Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t his solid self. The Ranger netminder stopped 27 of the 28 shots on the night, including some tough ones in the second.

“It was important to shut them down,” said Lundqvist, who now is 12-4-2 on the season. “They’re coming off a pretty tough stretch and if they get a couple of early goals and get the confidence, they can be a pretty tough team.”

Lundqvist was actually better than his record tonight because it looked like he was interfered on by Jason Spezza, as Daniel Alfredsson scored the Ottawa goal with 3:47 left in the second. Spezza knocked his stick into the back of Lundqvist’s knee, which should be an interference call, according to Renney.

But the goal stood, which allowed the Rangers to make it an interesting third. Renney juggled his lines again and limited Nik Zherdev’s and Aaron Voros’s ice time. That allowed Sjostrom to shine and ultimately got The King into the shootout where he simply holds court.

“The Zamboni comes out and you just try to relax,” said Lundqvist, who is now 3-1 in shootouts this season. “A lot of times I think about the extra point and that kind of fires me up. I like the challenge of facing the best players on the other team. I get nervous because you play such a big part and you want to win so badly for the guys. You need to have a lot of patience and right now I have both.”

Zherdev redeemed himself for his third period absence, by going five-hole on Alex Auld [26 save overall]. Lundqvist then stopped Spezza, Jarkko Ruutu and Antoine Vermette for the two points and now conference leading 30 points overall.

Notes: Ruutu seemed to agitate the Rangers in the first, especially Brandon Dubinsky and Aaron Voros, who fought the Finnish winger. But Dubinsky said he ignored him the rest of the game.

“He’s an idiot,” Dubinsky said. “He’s not professional out there. He tries to get under guys skin. It doesn’t matter. He’s not bothering me.”

Scott Gomez sat out his third straight game with a leg injury.

NEW YORK – The early returns are in. On this trade, it’s the Rangers by a landslide.

Nikolai Zherdev has been so dominate for the Blueshirts early on this season; it’s hard to believe Glen Sather stole him for middle of the road defensemen Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin.

And yet again, No. 13 was starring on the Garden ice, chipping in a goal and an assist in the Rangers 3-2 over the Atlanta Thrashers.

His skating is an art form and his speed allows the Russian sniper to fly down ice to make a play. Against the Thrashers, that speed was on display, as the 23 year-old scored on the fly in the third and then took a trip around the net to outlet over to Dan Girardi for the game winning, just a few minutes later. Even more impressively, he also broke up a shorthanded breakaway earlier on in the match.

That’s why star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said, “He is certainly one of the most talented players I’ve seen.”

The skills were always there for Zherdev, as evidenced by the Blue Jackets picking him fourth overall in the 2003 draft. But the talent never equated to the numbers. In four NHL seasons, the right wing scored 26 goals with 105 assists. He had a good year in his first full season [27 goals and 27 assists in 2005-06], but then fell to just 10 goals and 22 assists the next year.

Coach Tom Renney said when Ken Hitchcock took over the Jackets, Zherdev changed to a north south player, which caused him to put up his best season last year with 26 goals and 35 assists.

Yet, so much more was expected, though. Much like Alexi Kovalev in the mid-90s, the results never lived up the promise.

And because of that, it made the Russian expendable for Columbus, and he shipped him to the Rangers along with Dan Fritsche for the two defenseman back on Jul. 2.

The Rangers saw a player who just needed some fine tuning and also some acceptance among his teammates. With a very unselfish locker room, Zherdev immediately fit in and Renney tried to have him play to his strengths.

“I just am being Tom,” Renney said modestly. “One of the reasons we got him is because we thought that style of coaching would work with him. We really support our players and give them a lot of opportunity to get success.”

It allowed for a blistering start of five goals and seven assists with a NHL leading plus-11. With Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and Markus Naslund struggling, Zherdev has been the Rangers best forward, so far in this campaign.

“He’s doing what he can do, obviously, but he is playing every game with an edge in his game,” Fritsche said. “You can tell he is playing with a passion and playing to win. He is proving a lot of people wrong so far.”

Of course this could be a short lived tenure. Zherdev can be a restricted free agent after this season. The Rangers have made sure to make him feel right at home, so the winger considers staying in New York, rather than bolting for Russia next year.

Yet, that’s something for the future, because the Blueshirts are just enjoying Zherdev and what he is bringing to the table so far. But as good as he has been; there is certainly room to improve.

“He played hard and the effort is definitely there,” Renney said. “There are some things we have to improve as a team and Niki is certainly symbolic of that. Maybe he’s trying to do many things but at the same time, he works hard and he understands what we’re looking for.”

All you would have to do is look at the end of the bench to see Eddie Curry and Stephon Marbury – the poster boys of the Isiah Thomas regime – watching the game, but not being invited to participate.

This is Mike D’Antoni’s team now and the new coach is looking to build a likable franchise – one that will come to play every night, while leaving the drama and stain of the Isiah Era behind.

And the final result on opening night – a 120-115 win over the Miami Heat – signaled more than just a nice victory to begin D’Antoni’s tenure. More importantly, the inmates no longer run the asylum at Madison Square Garden. Under the new coach, there will be a meritocracy, where playing time is earned by performance and not dictated by the size of a paycheck.

D’Antoni, though, was quick to point out Marbury was not at fault here, but just wanted to move the franchise along. “It’s just that I think going forward, [Danilo] Gallinari, Will Chandler, [Chris] Duhon, David Lee, just go down through, Nate [Robinson] - we’ve got to know certain things as we go forward,” he said. “We’re trying to build a team. It’s not this year. It’s a two- or three-year project, and I don’t want to get started next year on the project. I want to get started right now.”

D’Antoni needs to look past Marbury. Although he’s owed $21.9 million this season, the erstwhile starter is not going to be re-signed. Because D’Antoni is in a honeymoon period right now, the coach needs to concentrate on his long term players in order to put together a winning team.

And to his credit Marbury was very diplomatic. “”If that’s what the coach says for me to do, then I’m fine with that.”

Sounds good after one game, but what if the Knicks are, say, 9-11 after 20 games, will Marbury still be fine with not playing? And what if his name comes up in a trade rumor or two, will he force his way off the team, even if it means the Knicks will lose the cap space next year?

Obviously those answers are for another day, as is Curry, who sat on the bench the first half and then went into the locker room for the second. After coming into camp out of shape, D’Antoni refused to play the center, instead allowing him to rot on the pine next to Marbury.

Before the game the coach said, “You’re not going to play yourself in (the rotation) during the games. You’re going to do it at practice. And it’s not just (Curry). It’s everybody.”

In his high tempo system, D’Antoni needs his players to be in the best shape possible. For it to work in New York there can’t be any loafing, because it will slow down the whole game plan.

Maybe that’s why it worked in the absence of Curry and Marbury. The Knicks looked good, despite the fact they almost blew a 26 point lead by allowing 40 Heat points in the fourth quarter.

“I think those last five minutes, it’s just a matter of ‘Oh, gosh.’ We kind of shut it down,” D’Antoni said. “We can’t do that. We’re not that good to be able to do that.”

Even with the near collapse, the Knicks really seemed to  like the system, especially Jamal Crawford, who led the Knicks with 29 points, and Zack Randolph, who put in 20.

“I love it,” Crawford said. “It’s wide open. It’s equal opportunity and it’s great for us.”

“I like it,” added Randolph. “Guys get open shots. It’s a good system.”

Sure there will be growing pains and the Knicks won’t look this good every night. But D’Antoni wants to build something here. If that means Curry and Marbury have to sit, so be it. His system worked on opening night, when the Garden was filled with hope. Now let’s see if the Knicks can build on this victory.

The Atlantic League is no exception.

After Friday’s stunning announcement that the Newark Bears will cease operations, the Atlantic League and the city of Newark will have to make some tough decisions.

Right now, there are no Newark Bears. Owner Marc Berson it was time to shut the doors rather than lose money next season. Newark is one of the weaker teams in the Atlantic League in terms of attendance, averaging 2,764 a game in 2008, the second lowest on the circuit. It may not get better next year in the current economic climate.

Yet that doesn’t mean Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium will be dark next season. It is possible for the other Atlantic League owners to come in and buy the Bears from Berson. Ducks owner Frank Boulton just bought the Bridgeport Bluefish to keep them afloat and it’s not out of the question for the Bears to get a bailout as well.

In the Newark’s case, the other Atlantic League owners may chip in and each own a piece of the team until a new owner is found. Of course they have to meet Berson’s asking price which may be harder than it seems. According to one Atlantic League official, there are some hard feeling between Berson and the other owners, which contributed to Friday’s move.

If that doesn’t work, the city of Newark may look elsewhere. With an empty stadium comes opportunity and another league may come in to Newark. The Can-Am League - where former Atlantic League teams, the Atlantic City Surf and Nashua Pride, found homes - may be interested in fielding a team. A deal will have to be made with Essex County and Berson, who still owns the rights to the stadium.

As for the Atlantic League, the Bear move won’t hurt the league in the long run. Over the past few seasons, it has been shedding its weaker teams in favor of expansion in stronger markets. The Road Warrior format can return for the 2008 season if a replacement franchise is not found.

Also the league can move the All-Star Game, which was scheduled for Newark, to another market such as Long Island, which is set to host the game in 2010.

The biggest losers in this whole debacle are the full-time Bear employees who will be forced to find jobs in a very tough economic environment.

Just remember it’s still very early in the off-season, so there is still time to resolve this situation and have some sort of professional baseball in Newark for the 2009 season.

This is Tom Renney’s team from top to bottom and the coach has put his stamp on the Broadway squad down to the last man on the roster.

Not since Herb Brooks stood behind the bench has a Ranger team been built for the coach. The Blueshirts of the mid-1990s were designed for Mark Messier and in the early 2000s squads were based on star driven talent, many times with no direction.

Even when Renney started after the lockout, he had of tailor a system to the talents of Jaromir Jagr. After No. 68 left for Russia over the summer, Renney saw a chance to remake the Rangers in his image. Instead of a star driven offense, behind Jagr and Brendan Shanahan, the Rangers have a roster filled with up and coming younger players and veterans of unselfish systems.

It has allowed the Blueshirts to a better 2-way unit. It’s one that is designed to cut down on the number of opponent’s shots – and utilize Henrik Lundqvist to his fullest - while taking advantage of the team’s speed, peppering the net with pucks.

It was a risky move, because of the possible chemistry issues. Yet, with 142 Ranger wins – now fourth on the team’s all time list - and three playoff appearances under his belt, Tom Terrific has earned the right to do what he wants.

When he took over the team from Glen Sather, right before the lockout, Renney was thought to be a stopgap. He name wasn’t sexy enough to coach on Broadway and his one coaching stint in Vancouver was considered a failure.

But something changed in Renney after the NHL came back from its one season hiatus. The coach learned how to deal with the NHL ego. He let Jagr be Jagr, while slowing integrating Lundqvist into the league. It gave him the first Ranger playoff appearance since Messier and Wayne Gretzky played together and also a lot more say in how the team would be shaped in the future.

Slowly over the past two seasons, the roster changed. What was a European based system became a North American style team, built from not just free agency but the draft as well. Although the Rangers have notable names like Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Markus Naslund, and Wade Redden, the roster also heavily relies upon draft picks such as Brandon Dubinsky, Marc Staal, and Lundqvist, which gives the Blueshirts a good blend of experience and youth.

The result is a 9-2-1 record, the best record in hockey so far.

And here’s the scary part: The Rangers haven’t fired on all cylinders yet.

Early on this season, Drury has been slow at the start and Gomez is still searching for his offensive touch. Even Naslund looks a little lost out there, but is starting to come around. It’s forced Renney to stay on his team to keep them on target to the task at hand.

Take last night for instance. With a pedestrian first period on Long Island, Renney focused his team during the final half of the game, leading to a 4-2 win. As the game moved along, the Rangers got better and better, much like they did in Columbus last Friday and at home against Pittsburgh on Saturday. “The guys realize they have to be on the same page,” Renney said. “The idea was to play 60 minutes. They need to complete the deal in an intelligent way. I thought we did that.”

Renney helped move it along. He sent a message in the first by benching Brandon Dubinsky, after the young center took two bad penalties in the first 5 ½ minutes of the game.

This is not a Plaxico Burress situation. Dubinsky is a good kid and has produced this season. He just made a few bad plays. But Renney not only sent a message to the budding star but the rest of the team as well. Stupid mistakes will not be tolerated.

“Just wanted Dubi to understand there’s a way we have to play and the guy behind the bench is the boss,” Renney said and added, “I am not going to discriminate in that matter.”

Besides playing with discipline, Renney also has the team in great shape. By strongly encouraging the squad to arrive at training camp almost a month early, the Blueshirts were able to get into midseason form in September and the Rangers’ conditioning allows them to outplay opponents in the third period.

“We certainly make sure we get under the time in all the stop watch drills,” said captain Chris Drury. “It very well could be. We are very well aware of how important the third is.”

It’s that complete game with no lapses that Renney keeps preaching.

Of course, it’s still early and no one knows if the hot start will continue. But one thing is for certain: If the Rangers are going to go far into the spring this season, it will be first and foremost because of Tom Terrific and the stamp he put on his team.

It was just a matter of discipline.

Playing smart, the Rangers were able to stay in their system and got better as the match went along, while the Islanders took too many bad penalties and seemed to get out of their game plan over the later parts of the game.

That’s why the 4-2 Blueshirt win is more than two points for the Rangers, but a snapshot of season so far on both benches.

“We hung in and we didn’t break,” said coach Tom Renney, who passed Roger Neilson for fourth place on the all-time Rangers win list with 142. “It’s a testimony to the ability to come back. We have to play a certain way to have some success and at the same time put pressure on the other team to make some defensive decisions.”

The pressure Renney was referring to resulted in 11 Islander penalties for eight Ranger power plays. That caused the Isles to play catch-up for the last 40 minutes of the game.

“If we don’t stay in our system and have one guy going off on his own page, it’s going to screw things up,” said Islander captain Bill Guerin. “From there, everybody feels they are just chasing and are out of position. We got the result of coming out of our game plan.”

The Islander structure was actually working in the first. After Chris Drury tipped in Nikolai Zherdev’s pass at 56 seconds to give the Rangers the early lead, the Islanders seemed to take control.

First, Brandon Dubinsky got benched for taking two bad penalties in the first 5:31. Renney decided to send a message to his young center and the rest of his team, for that matter, telling them that undisciplined play would not be tolerated.

“I wanted Dubi to understand there’s a way we have to play and the guy behind the bench is the boss,” Renney said. “He knows that. He’s a good kid. He’ll learn.”

The Rangers learned as the game went along. Playing better in the second, the Blueshirts were able to take the lead for good with a little less than four minutes left in the period. Ryan Callahan took Scott Gomez’s feed in front to the net to shoot it by Joey MacDonald, who had 25 saves on the night.

The tally was basically the Islanders nail in the coffin as the Blueshirts took hold of the game in the third and never let go. Not giving the Isles any chances, they Rangers outshot their Long Island brethren 14-5 for the period.

Scott Gomez added to the lead 6:52 with his third of the season, tipping in a Michal Rozsival shot from the point, which hit Bruno Gervais and Gomez tapped it in from the side.

Then after Doug Weight and Sean Bergenheim both took high sticking penalties, which resulted in a 5-on-3 for the Rangers, Drury tallied his second of the game and second of the season to make the lead insurmountable.

“I’ll take it,” Drury said. “These are exciting games to play. I just wanted to get off to a good start in the series [against the Isles].”

And it was just another day at the office for Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 28 shots, although he let Mark Streit score with less than two minutes left in the match.

But that wasn’t enough as the Rangers played a very disciplined game on the Island.

“The guys realize they have to be on the same page,” Renney said. “The idea tonight was to play 60 minutes. They need to complete the deal in an intelligent way. I thought we did that.”

Notes: With tonight’s win, the Rangers tied the franchise record for best start through 12 games, improving to 9-2-1 on the season for 19 points … The Blueshirts also registered 19 points through 12 games in 1978-79 (8-1-3) and 1989-90 (8-1-3) … New York’s nine wins through 12 games also tied a team record set in 1983-84, when the team began the season with a 9-3-0 record.

NEW YORK – It’s very rare for the Rangers to tie a game in the last second. So much so that their coach doesn’t even remember the last time it happened.

“I couldn’t tell you,” said coach Tom Renney. “I honestly don’t know. I couldn’t tell you.”

No one can blame Renney, who is recovering from a conk on the noggin, because it’s been so long since Chris Drury tied the game in Edmonton on Jan. 5. So when Nikolai Zherdev put one past Marc-Andre Fleury with 8.1 seconds left, the Garden understandably went nuts.

“That was the loudest I have ever heard this building,” said Fredrik Sjostrom, who ultimately won the 3-2 decision over the Pittsburgh Penguins with the shootout’s only tally. “It was just amazing for us to come back where we were just bombarding them with shots. And then to get the late one, and the place just erupted out there, it was one of the best moments I have had in here.”

“It’s unbelievable,” Drury added. “Right down to the wire. It feels great to see [the puck] go in.”

Zherdev’s goal completed a great third period comeback for the Rangers. Through the first 40 minutes, the team looked flat, and maybe a little fatigued from the night before. But Renney switched things up in the third, with different combinations and shorter shifts to keep the team fresh.

It allowed the Rangers to have 18 of their 44 shots in the third and they got the two goals to tie it.

“There was just more urgency in the third,” Renney said. “We were just paying attention of taking back as much ice as we could. Getting it in deep and getting places first. It’s almost like we tried to articulate our way through the first two periods, instead of playing.”

Besides Zherdev, Markus Naslund woke up with a power play goal earlier in the period. Just seven seconds after Petr Prucha drew a hooking call on Jordan Staal, the Swedish left wing knocked a pass from Scott Gomez past Fleury to cut the Penguin lead in half.

It was part of a great third period by Naslund who looked very comfortable out there.

“We were trying to make an extra push there to get something going,” said Naslund, who now has three goals on the season. “We go rewarded out there and got a couple of goals.”

Those two goals allowed the Rangers to take it to overtime and then the shootout. Although Zherdev and Nigel Dawes were sent away by Fleury, Sjostrom’s goal gave the Rangers the win after Henrik Lundqvist was able to stop Kris Letang, Petr Sykora, and Sidney Crosby.

Those third period heroics were needed because the Rangers dug themselves a hole over the first two stanzas. Darryl Sydor opened the scoring at 9:04 of the fist on Pittsburgh’s first shot of the game. Taking it from the point it went through traffic and past Lundqvist.

Then Sidney Crosby made it 2-0 in the second as he poked a loose puck by Lundqvist and it looked like it was Pittsburgh’s night.

But the Ranger netminder stopped the Pens’ 25 other shots to allow his team to come back in the third.

“Henrik is probably the best goalie out there,” Naslund said. “He showed it again tonight. He’s making the saves at the right time.”

With the win the Rangers improved to 8-2-1 for 17 points, by far the most in the league. But they have played 11 games, which is two more than any other team.

Notes: Renney said he felt fine after the game. After meeting with the doctors in the morning, he was given a clean bill of health.

That didn’t stop general manager Glen Sather from buying him a helmet or goaltending coach Benoit Allaire from wearing a nametag so Renney “would know who he was.”