While the slogans and the whistles and the chants about Glen Sather were flying around Seventh Ave. at the end of a beautiful day in New York, one of the four (by my count) uniformed policemen assigned to monitor today’s “Fire Sather” rally turned to me and said, “Think anybody’s listening?”

His meaning was clear - “Nobody’s listening” - but one way or another, the Ranger Fan’s Political Action Committee was out in full-ish force today to air their grievances with the man who has been running the Rangers for the past decade and has led them to two playoff series victories in that time. They carried signs about that, about the 2003 draft that poor Hugh Jessiman will never hear the end of, and had some rather colorful chants to boot - including, but not limited to, making Sather Denis Potvin for an hour, as well as the most ridiculous, utterly over-the-top chant I have ever heard but can’t repeat. That one didn’t catch on, thank goodness.

And afterward, Sather’s Rangers lost another, their third straight, even though they got the salve of Brandon Dubinsky’s tying power-play goal with 1:23 left to salvage a point.

I mention in the game story how Gaborik was left on the bench for that late power play in a 1-0 game. To be clear: Gaborik certainly is not one of the reasons those folks gathered today to vent about Sather - it’s so far so good with that big-money signing, although Gaborik’s health through the length of the deal will have a say in that verdict. But even before this game, John Tortorella had a few straightforward things to say about how Gaborik needed to pick up his game from Saturday night’s return in Washington, when the coach already seemed sick of hearing about his groin injury. Gaborik was even a game-time decision in the coach’s eyes for this crucial game tonight.

“Honestly, let’s call a spade a spade - our top guys were no-shows (in Washington). Our top guys were no-shows, and it can’t be happening at this time of year,” Tortorella said before the game. “He can’t play the way he played last night. If he’s not able in his mind to get through this and be able to play full, he won’t play.”

Speaking of the Rangers’ top unit of Gaborik, Erik Christensen and Vinny Prospal in Saturday’s game, the coach said: “They stunk. Listen, they’re good people, Erik’s been put in a spot here that he hasn’t been in in a long time - he’s our No. 1 center right now. He has to try to handle that responsibility. He’s had some good games for us, but it can’t be the inconsistent rollercoaster here.

“But he certainly wasn’t the only one on that line, it was all three of ’em as far as I’m concerned. And at this time of year - it’s not to cause a stir, I’ve already talked to them about this - your top players have to be your best players. This time of year, with short strokes and where we’re at, they have to be able to do more things than they did (Saturday) night in a very winnable game where I thought most of the team really played well. When your top players aren’t there, you’re not going to win.”

On Gaborik again: “If he is able to work hard and in his mind get through this mentally, he will play. If not, he’s not going to play. It’s just too many minutes that I’ll give him that will be wasted if he’s not ready mentally for this.”

Gaborik, of course, did suit up last night and played close to 19 minutes, though he clearly is still not up to speed. Tortorella said after the game that he would reserve comment on his top players’ play until he could review tape, though he said: “I think they were more engaged - well, I know they were more engaged” - which is to say, that’s not saying much.

Tortorella gave Artem Anisimov some power-play time at the end of regulation and went with Chris Drury for 21:26; Drury played well but was reaching out for Patrick Kaleta’s stick as the Sabres winger whacked at the winning goal.

Lastly, a tip of the cap to Peter Caputo, who tonight received the Third Annual Emile Francis Award “in recognition of the sacrifice, dedication and impact that volunteers have on grassroots development in youth and amateur hockey.” Caputo, a Scarsdale native, is a co-founder and 15-year volunteer at Scarsdale Youth Hockey.

Vinny Prospal had a relatively simple suggestion for how the Rangers can improve their odds of scoring by a factor of 10:

“Just hit the net,” the Ranger forward said after this 2-0 loss to the Caps, the sixth time the Rangers have been shut out this season, all in the last 27 games. “And if you don’t score, get a rebound. There were numerous chances, and we don’t even hit the net on our initial chance. And it goes all the way around and we give the other team a chance to break out easily. That’s where the problem starts; we have to hit the net to score at least, or give ourselves a chance for a next chance.”

Certainly that applies to the 2-on-0 near the end of the game on which Brandon Dubinsky lost the handle and the scoring chance. It applies to much more of a game in which the Rangers did a lot of good things against the NHL’s highest-scoring team, and a lot of nothing against Jose Theodore. That includes Marian Gaborik, who played 20:08 as less than full strength with his groin injury. “Hopefully it’s going to be back soon,” the Rangers’ leading scorer said of the strength in his legs. “The key is to be in a game. It’s going to be back.”

The penalties? It wasn’t that the Rangers took all that many, it was that they took them at all the wrong times. Sean Avery’s offensive-zone hooking penalty 8:58 into a good start for the Rangers was one they didn’t need, and that goes double for Marc Staal’s minor for holding the stick 15 seconds later. “Against that team,” John Tortorella said, “you’re very fortunate if you can get out of it without getting a goal scored on you.” No such luck. And back-to-back minors to Dubinsky and Marian Gaborik in the last 4:06 - sandwiching that 2-on-0 - put the stops on any comeback attempt.

At least now have they found a backup goaltender who will stick for the rest of the season? Not that rookie Chad Johnson played poorly in his stint with the big club, but John Tortorella is likely to have an easier feeling seeing a veteran play as confidently, inside and outside his crease, as Alex Auld did tonight. Auld made 26 saves, had no prayer on Eric Fehr’s 5-on-3 goal, and was the anti-Henrik in how he would jet far outside his office to retrieve pucks as Capital clears, and forecheckers, came toward him.

“He played good, he played very well,” Tortorella said. “He’s good with the puck; it’s something that helps you out in certain situations. With the D, he made a couple good calls as far as coming out of the net. So he played very well - that’s good news.”

Theodore, though, was better. His best stop of the night came 5½ minutes into the second period when Shaone Morrison sent a cross-ice pass to Dubinsky in the slot as if they were wearing the same colors. Dubinsky tried deking as he got in tight, but Theodore was equal to it, and from that point on he allowed the Rangers very few second chances.

Washington won its 13th straight game at home, a club record, despite Alex Ovechkin going a sixth straight game without a goal (with two Olympic goals in between). Only three teams this season have defeated them in regulation at their home rink - the Rangers being one of them, back during the halcyon days of the seven-game win streak to start the season, a 4-3 victory on Oct. 8.

Though still not 100 percent, according to the right winger today. Nevertheless, Marian Gaborik will be back in the lineup tomorrow night in Washington for the first time in a Ranger uniform since Feb. 12, when he played only 4:02 before leaving the Rangers’ OT win in Pittsburgh.

Gaborik skated yesterday with backup goalie Alex Auld, his first skate since suffering likely a groin injury during the Olympic semifinals. He took his first full practice with the Rangers today, back to skating on a line with Erik Christensen and Vinny Prospal. He said the injury has improved to where it’s not great, but good enough.

“We have 18 games left and we need points, and I want to be part of it. I want to help the team in any way,” he said. “We’re battling for playoffs, every game every point is critical. I want to get back at it; I’m looking forward to it.”

“He comes in and maybe has some adrenaline, and adds some scoring as I’m sure he’d like to do, and some other guys can chip in here in some of the roles they’ve played in his absence, it’s a good thing,” John Tortorella said. “I think the guys have really played well without two pretty good offensive players in there in Del Z and Gaborik. So hopefully we’ll become a better team.”

In Gaborik’s absence, Ryan Callahan had been skating in that spot with Christensen and Prospal, but the winger who played the full gamut for the U.S. in Vancouver “is a little banged up,” the coach said, and was given a day to rest. Chris Drury was also given the option of taking today off but chose to skate; the Rangers have no ice available tomorrow morning in Washington so this was the last chance before game time.

And speaking of Auld, there’s a good chance he could take his first start as a Ranger this weekend, likely on Sunday at the Garden against Buffalo. Tortorella said he has a plan in mind that he didn’t wish to share just yet; Lundqvist figured he would learn of that plan when the two talk tonight in D.C.

Tortorella said he has broken down tape of the first two periods of last night’s OT loss to Pittsburgh but has yet to go over the third period on. Spoiler alert: The ending stinks. It’s essentially the Penguins playing keepaway, but without having gone over the tape, at least, the coach didn’t mind the effort, just the execution.

“We were trying hard, and a lot of people may look at the shots and say ‘They gave in’ - we did not give in. We tried like hell to win that hockey game,” he said. “We played against some players that ramped it up on us, and we didn’t have an answer.

“I don’t question the team’s effort, and that shouldn’t even be a question this time of year as far as the situation we’re in. They’ll show up every game - we may not win ’em all, and it may be ugly at times, but I know this team will try.”

Was it a heartfelt salute to some extraordinary athletes or Sidney Crosby’s presence that kicked up all that patriotic pride that was coursing through the Garden last night?

Certainly a little bit of both during a crackling first period that included some choice words directed from Henrik Lundqvist to Crosby, a shove tossed the other way, and then look out. Once Brandon Dubinsky jumped on Crosby at that point, half the Garden was chanting “USA! USA!” while the other half was yelling something we won’t reprint here.

Lundqvist was upset at what was clearly a dive on Crosby’s part, the first of back-to-back Ranger penalties in quick succession early in the game (Michal Rozsival got his money’s worth on the other one), though it wasn’t exactly a common sight to see the Ranger goalie skate straight over to the Penguin captain to tell him to stay on his feet.

“He went up with his arms and really played it out, and I told him to stand up,” Lundqvist said. “He’s a great player, and obviously refs are going to be hard on that - refs need to make sure star players are protected. I don’t think he should use it though.”

Lundqvist actually made two separate post-whistle skates over to Crosby in this game, the second one coming in the third period. “Oh, that one was nothing,” Lundqvist said.

For all the attention Crosby attracted in this game coming off his Vancouver heroics and coming into a building where he’s never been a favorite, the Rangers played him physically and played him well, with Marc Staal and Dan Girardi and some Michal Rozsival seeing the ice against Crosby’s line. Crosby finished with one assist, setting up Mike Rupp’s second-period goal off a line change that made it a one-goal game again just 1:24 after Brandon Dubinsky had stretched the Ranger lead to two - probably the key goal of the game.

The highlight-reel goal of the game? That belonged to Chris Drury, who took a beating in front until being hit by Olli Jokinen’s shot, then, all on one knee, settling the carom and steering it sharply behind him with his backhand at 14:39 of the first.

But for all the Rangers’ satisfaction at scoring four goals on a season-low 16 shots (all against a shaky Marc-Andre Fleury), and for scoring 17 goals in the last five games with hardly any Marian Gaborik, this game was a mismatch basically from Rupp’s goal forward. The Rangers didn’t have a shot in the third period until 4:37 remained, that coming off Olli Jokinen’s stick from a sharp angle, and that being their last of the night. Pittsburgh owned the puck and the pace of the game until they came from behind to win it.

In Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma’s words: “The feeling in our dressing room was, it’s inevitable that we win if we keep playing this way.”

“When we had opportunities to hold onto the puck offensively, we lost it a bit,” John Tortorella said. “I thought a number of times when we made a play, D to forward, we’d lose the puck where we really didn’t have to lose the puck, we could have made another play. Offensively we just didn’t hold onto enough pucks. It just kept on growing on us, and then we backed in, and they ramped it up on us there.

“To me the third period reminded me of the Chicago game earlier this year, we couldn’t get the puck from their D. Their D, it’s under the radar their D because of the big names up front - they have a pretty big, mobile D that we just couldn’t get the puck from.”

Drury was one of the nine Olympians between the two teams (10, counting the sidelined Marian Gaborik) to be honored during the first TV timeout, with USA’s Ryan Callahan receiving the biggest cheer and guess-who hearing the only boos. All that fed the patriotism here tonight, although here’s my dark-horse catalyst: it was the presence of the Night Train, the crew that broke the United States’ 62-year medal drought in four-man bobsled, sitting center-ice with their gold medals around their necks and receiving a rousing standing ovation from the Garden crowd. They are piloted by Steven Holcomb, an Olympian who is more George Costanza than Adonis but, God bless him, is an Olympic champion, unitard and all. Winter of George.

Nothing quite like watching the trade deadline approach and then go by while parked on a taxiway waiting for the tower at LaGuardia Airport to give the go-ahead to take off. It was a long ride back from Canada, but in the end, an equally slow day on the trade front for the Rangers - just two minor deals, one sending AHL winger Jordan Owens to the Red Wings for AHL forward Kris Newbury, the second shipping ECHL/AHL goaltender Miika Wiikman and a seventh-round pick in 2011 to the Coyotes for 35-year-old blueliner Anders Eriksson.

In the end, the trades Glen Sather had made prior to the Olympic break helped make for a quiet deadline day. With a team hovering on the playoff bubble, he didn’t shed an expiring contract such as Vinny Prospal’s, nor go after a mediocre piece that wouldn’t have vaulted the Rangers above their current position. Didn’t step forward or backward. Commendable enough.

No team took any enormous leap today, even if business did heat up a bit in the afternoon. While getting ready to leave Ottawa, I did get to tune into the earliest hours of TSN’s TradeCenter (sorry, TradeCentre) coverage - their 79-man panel came on the air at 8 a.m. - and it truly was like watching paint dry. And I felt for the guys - there are only so many ways you can say that nothing is going on and we can’t wait for something to start going on and the Maple Leafs stink; by 9 o’clock, James Duthie (John Tortorella’s ol’ TSN pal) was reaching pretty deep in the bag and they had shown a graphic of the Leafs forward lines three times - “Looks like an AHL roster,” said Craig MacTavish. It was about that time that I turned on the radio to pick up a Montreal sports station that was locked in their own trade-deadline coverage, and that was like LISTENING to paint dry - so much so that the hosts decided to simply hook up the live audio feed from TSN’s telecast. They’d had enough of that once the subject turned to Mike Keenan’s golf game.

Of course, they all were kept busy enough in the end with 30 trades going through today, none of them quite enough to knock their Perry Ellis socks off. The biggest names to move today: Dennis Seidenberg to the Bruins, Wojtek Wolski to the Coyotes (productive day for Don Maloney), Joe Corvo (to Washington) and Brian Pothier (to Carolina) swapping places, Edmonton’s Lubomir Visnovsky to Anaheim for Ryan Whitney. A handful of role players and a lot of draft picks changing hands, though not one GM parted with a first-rounder.

Matt D’Agostini was moved from the Habs to the Blues in the wee hours, and the way they fill time on Montreal sports radio, you’d think the Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cups in spite of Matt D’Agostini.

More tomorrow with the Penguins in town; Marian Gaborik did not skate today and may not play tomorrow, Michael Del Zotto will.

The Rangers are officially whole again today, with every member of the team at the rink for this morning’s skate at ScotiaBank Place, although come tonight they will be down two regulars to start the post-Olympic homestretch against the Ottawa Senators: Marian Gaborik and Michael Del Zotto will not play, Del Zotto definitely due to the gash he suffered just before the Olympic break, Gaborik possibly because of the same.

Gaborik did play through whatever injury he’s experiencing in the Olympics - he left Slovakia’s semifinal loss to Canada and sat out the third period, but returned to play in the bronze medal game against Finland. Neither he nor John Tortorella would go into specifics on the injury that’s keeping him out tonight other than to say it was a lower-body injury. Gaborik took 29 stitches in his right thigh after being cut by Henrik Lundqvist in the week leading up to the break; he played a total of 4:02 in the Rangers’ three games before the Olympics, that coming in Pittsburgh when he decided in the first period that he couldn’t continue.

“I don’t think I’m to the point where I can help the team the way I can. So that’s where it is right now,” Gaborik said today after being the only Ranger to sit out the morning skate. “It’s the lower part of the body and I don’t want to say more. I’m not at the point where I can go out there and really help. I can’t really go out there and push to where I can be helpful.”

Gaborik used similar language to describe his laceration injury when the Rangers were in Pittsburgh on Feb. 12, saying after that morning skate that he was getting no power pushing off with his right leg. He considers himself day-to-day now.

Corey Potter will go in tonight for Del Zotto, who along with Aaron Voros (the third scratch tonight) stayed on the ice to bag skate with assistant coach Mike Sullivan. After getting his stitches out on Sunday - Del Zotto took 50 of them after being cut in his left side by Evgeni Malkin’s skate - the rookie defenseman said he was concerned about whether the pain would limit him, in contact and in shooting, but Monday’s practice set his mind at ease in that regard, and now it’s just a question of “getting my legs and my lungs up to speed.”

“We didn’t want to push it because I’ve only practiced twice,” said Del Zotto, who didn’t skate for a full 16 days after his injury. “We didn’t want to go out there where I was only at about 50%. We just want to get back and get it right.”

Here’s how the forward lines shaped up in the morning:

Prospal-Christensen-Callahan
Drury-Jokinen-Dubinsky
Avery-Anisimov-Lisin
Prust-Boyle-Shelley

I guess you could call it a goaltending overhaul today at Rangers practice, with two new - newish? - faces in the nets. Weather-waylayed Henrik Lundqvist was back in Ranger red, white and blue at one end while Alex Auld was wearing his green-and-white Dallas Stars mask at the other, the first sign that maybe the Rangers’ PR staff has written its last Chad Johnson/Matt Zaba transaction press release for the season.

In between the two goalies, it was the full complement of skaters (save for the two Olympians who played in last night’s bronze-medal match and the two who will skate for the United States in today’s gold-medal game), and that included Michael Del Zotto, who got his stitches out this morning and was on the ice some 20 minutes later. Del Zotto, skating for the first time in 16 days since being cut by Evgeni Malkin’s skate blade, did sit out the contact drills that came at the end of practice and is still questionable for Tuesday’s game in Ottawa, but the rookie blueliner stayed on the ice for nearly an hour and a half to be bag-skated by Mike Sullivan and Jerry Dineen. Sixteen days off: welcome back, son.

“It was really good, I was surprised,” Del Zotto said after catching his breath in the dressing room. “I didn’t know how I was going to be able to shoot because it’s in that area, left D coming across. I was really surprised, it was a good day … (with) everything. My legs felt good.”

Del Zotto has been fitted with an undershirt that has a hard protective pad sewn in to cover the area of the cut. With the stitches out, there is no worry at this point about reopening the cut; rather, the pad is there to protect a wounded area that still gives Del Zotto some pain, and also to help with the mental aspect that the rookie admitted does exist. “The pain” is what would keep him from playing on Tuesday, Del Zotto said, adding that he isn’t worried about his timing being rusty. After all, over the past two weeks he has only sat out one game. “When you see someone running down at you on the forecheck, you’ll know you’re back,” he said.

Lundqvist knows he’s back because of the disappointment he felt when Sweden’s defense of its Olympic gold ended at the hands of Marian Gaborik and the Slovaks last week, a defeat the goaltender said he has tried to put behind him - with limited success. “It was great, it was fun environment, great city for the Games I think,” Lundqvist said. “We started off pretty good, but then, again, it comes down to one game, and the things that could go wrong for us did go wrong.”

The trip home into a nor’easter wasn’t much better. Lundqvist’s plane home on Thursday was in its descent into New York when plans changed and the flight was diverted to Toronto. He spent two extra nights in Toronto and didn’t arrive back until yesterday.

Auld was a recent arrival, too, having been picked up off reentry waivers from the Dallas Stars on Saturday. He had known for a few weeks that there was the possibility he could be moved from Dallas - ever since the Stars swiped Keri Lehtonen from Atlanta - but “I was hoping it was an NHL team and I wasn’t going to end up in Austin in the AHL,” he said. “I heard Saturday morning that there was the potential to come here, and frankly I got really excited. Always loved the city, loved playing in the building, and it gives me a chance to work with Benoit Allaire and play with one of the best goalies in the world - all those things are good. I’m eager to learn, hopefully find a home. Obviously it’s an adjustment coming to the big city, but it’s exciting.”

Auld - who has joined his seventh team in eight NHL seasons - said he was thankful to Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk for at least being upfront with him about his situation in Dallas, and for placing him on recall waivers for the chance to land somewhere else. Auld played with Olli Jokinen on the 2006-07 Panthers and said he knows Marc Staal’s family well from growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The other thing he said he knows: “I understand the other guy that’s in net most nights, and how good he is. I just want to help”

The Rangers, minus their Olympians, were back at the rink today, many of them much more tan than when they left, and some likely feeling the burn of having a pleasant week off only to return to a mini-version of their pretty grueling training camp back in the fall. With John Tortorella in Vancouver coaching the United States-Switzerland game that is scoreless as we speak, it was Jim Schoenfeld and Mike Sullivan putting the 14 skaters through their paces today. So we’re calling it Camp Schully. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

With five Olympians still competing across the continent, Michael Del Zotto was the only one present today not to hit the ice. Del Zotto, you recall, received 50 stitches in his side when he was sliced up by Evgeni Malkin’s skate blade two Fridays ago in Pittsburgh; the injury is improving, but it’s uncertain at this point as to whether Del Zotto will be able to play on Tuesday as the post-Olympic homestretch kicks off in Ottawa.

The 19-year-old blueliner said the injury has been feeling better each day and that he finally has full range of motion in his left arm; when it first occurred, he couldn’t lift the arm over his head for several days. The plan is for the stitches to come out some time this weekend, after which Del Zotto will skate for the first time since the injury and try to determine whether he can go against the Sens.

“Right now I don’t want to take a chance of skating on it, falling on it and making it worse. Get the stitches out, skate and go from there,” Del Zotto said. “Today’s been the best it’s felt since it happened. It’s been getting better and better every day, it’s just taking some time. Just need to keep going forward.

“I’d like to (play Tuesday), obviously I’d love to. But again, it’s not fully up to me, it’s up to what’s best right now. We’ll see how it heals and see how it feels once the stitches are out. I’m not going to rule it out; we’ll see what happens.”

After the cut occurred, barely two minutes into the Rangers’ overtime victory over the Penguins, Del Zotto said after the game that the cut was gruesome enough that he couldn’t bear to look at it. Jim Ramsay - who right now is serving as Canada’s head trainer at the Olympics but is checking in daily with Del Zotto - took pictures of the cut that Del Zotto has kept. (Hey, for several years I hung onto the X-ray of my blasted collarbone from a hockey game in high school. I guess teenagers will try anything to get girls. On the other hand, “I’m a pro hockey player” probably gets your foot in the door.)

At least the cut is looking a little better now. “A lot better. I can actually look at it without gagging now,” said Del Zotto, who spent the break by taking his parents to Turks & Caicos, even though the cut wouldn’t allow him in the water. “I actually went on YouTube for the first time and looked at it - still, shivers, just watching it happen. It’s a weird situation, but nothing you can do about it now, right?”

While Del Zotto looked on through the glass, his teammates went through rush drills and then finished the session of nearly an hour with some hard skating interspersed with some push-ups that, well, need work. It’s all part of getting back toward game shape in the six off-days between now and Ottawa; practice picks up again tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, it’s now 1-0 USA. Huge day of hockey in a tournament that has been really enjoyable so far. Was chatting during practice with a fellow scribe about how Henrik Lundqvist’s powerhouse Swedes seem to have flown under everyone’s radar through the preliminaries, but also, does it seem that everyone is writing off the Canadians or is that just the residue of all the panic north of the border? I think having the extra game against Germany helps Canada, to get everyone’s, including Roberto Luongo’s, feet back under them. Either way, we get a gold-medal matchup in the quarterfinals with Canada-Russia, and then two more games after that. Beautiful.

Ten minutes left, U.S. 1, Switzerland 0 - and the Americans had a second goal waved off. You always had to worry that Jonas Hiller could steal this thing - he has made 40 saves already.

Let’s go over the winners and losers from today’s 5-2 Ranger victory over the Lightning at the Garden:

Winner: The Rangers, who head into the Olympic break riding back-to-back comeback wins, however imperfect they were.

Winner: Erik Christensen, who scored his fourth and fifth goals in his first multigoal game since March 29, 2007, for the Penguins - and who missed a third by centimeters when he rang another shot off the inside of the bar.

Winner: Sean Avery, whose superb penalty-shot goal - his first successful penalty shot in two career attempts - turned the tide of the game and sent the Rangers on their way to five unanswered goals.

Winner: Henrik Lundqvist, who robbed Nate Thompson a mere 15 seconds after Avery’s goal, then made another beauty on Martin St. Louis moments before Vinny Prospal tied the score, and made 27 saves to head to Vancouver with a hot hand.

Winner: Chris Drury, who was rewarded for back-to-back solid games with an empty-net goal in the last 14.4 seconds - goal No. 250 and point No. 600 in the NHL - just before taking off to go play in the Olympics that nobody thought he would reach.

Loser: Nick.

I don’t mean to pile on the poor guy, because unless I’ve been had, I feel terrible for him. But honestly, if you’re going to ask someone to marry you in front of 18,198 other people, you’d better be damn sure you’re gettin’ a Yes:

This catastrophe took place while the game was 2-2 in the second period, just before Christensen netted his pair to send the Rangers on their way. It had the Garden buzzing for a good 10 minutes, a sound I’ve never quite heard before in all the years I’ve been coming here for hockey games.

So it was a memorable Valentine’s Day - certainly Nick won’t forget it - a happy sendoff for the Rangers and a big day for Christensen, the center who was claimed off re-entry waivers from Anaheim back in December, is on his fourth team in three seasons and who has taken on a substantial role with the Rangers since January came around. When Marian Gaborik is healthy, Christensen has pretty much settled in as the centerman for the Rangers’ top skater. Today he scored a pair with Prospal and Ryan Callahan as his wingmen.

“He’s getting an opportunity here,” John Tortorella said. “He’s a tremendous talent, you could see that right away. Tremendous talent, tremendous skills. It’s being ready in all situations at all times, his consistency, and I think in the time he’s been here he’s been up and down and he’s becoming more consistent.

“You have to think he’s feeling - and he said it - it’s his last whack at this here, playing in the National Hockey League and trying to stick in this league. He’s getting a great opportunity with some pretty good people around him. Now he’s understanding his play away from the puck, I think he’s really working at that part of the game, and his skill showed today.”

Tortorella said of Christensen’s second goal, his quick flick into the top far-side corner behind Mike Smith: “There’s only one other person on this team that can do that, and that’s Gaborik.”

The Rangers were far from perfect in their back-to-back weekend wins, specifically with their first periods, which put them in a 2-0 hole today and which they’re at a loss to explain. “It probably doesn’t look like it, but we talk about having good starts every day. Every day,” Drury said. “For some reason it’s just not consistent enough for us. Some nights you’re able to turn it around and get four in a period and win, but some nights you’re not able to. When we get back we need to work on our starts.”

Drury soon after walked off to head for Vancouver along with Lundqvist, Gaborik, Callahan, Olli Jokinen and Tortorella. The rest of the Rangers are off, including Michael Del Zotto, who was hanging around the room after the game and said his 50-stitch cut to his left side is feeling better after two pretty awful days. Del Zotto said he really couldn’t move his arm until today, but at the very least he got a good night’s sleep last night - if only because he was so tired from his sleepless Friday night.

The Rangers’ next practice is Feb. 24; next game is March 2 in Ottawa. Till then, let’s enjoy the Olympic hockey.

Getting set for the final game before the breakup for the Olympics, and a little different look to the Ranger lineup today. Tough guy Jody Shelley will be making his Blueshirt debut today on the fourth line with Donald Brashear down in Hartford, while Corey Potter will be on the blue line for the second time in the last three games, taking the place of the stitched-up Michael Del Zotto. Enver Lisin is the healthy scratch today, while Marian Gaborik will be in the house with a suit on and his bags packed, ready to ship out to Vancouver after the game along with Chris Drury, Ryan Callahan, Henrik Lundqvist and Olli Jokinen.

And as the Rangers look to follow up Friday’s strong win with a strong finish into the Olympics, it’s the start John Tortorella is concerned with, because it was lacking in Pittsburgh. The coach saw that as his players being “tentative” through the first period before turning their game around with two top players having departed.

“The biggest thing was when we were without the puck, I just thought we backed off and gave up the neutral zone. Against a Crosby or a Malkin or you go down the line with Pittsburgh, and this team here with Tampa with some of the offensive people they have, it’s the wrong way to approach it,” Tortorella said this morning. “You have to try to control the neutral zone instead of just being tentative. I thought we regained ourselves in the second and third period, probably had two of our best forechecking periods we’ve had all year long. I think they had seven or eight chances in the first period; I think we held ’em to six the rest of the game - not because of our defensive zone coverage, because of our forecheck.”

With Gaborik out, it will be Callahan moving to the right wing beside Erik Christensen and Vinny Prospal at the start of this one, while Drury will play the right side with Jokinen in the middle and Brandon Dubinsky on the left.

Shelley, who came over in Friday’s trade with the Sharks for a conditional draft pick, has played 517 games for the Blue Jackets and Sharks with 43 points and 1,310 penalty minutes. Those numbers go a long way in describing his on-ice reputation, but he arrives, apparently, with a pretty good rap sheet around the Rangers.

“I don’t know him that well, we rely quite a bit on our people that have seen him play,” Tortorella said. “I hear he’s just a terrific guy, a terrific teammate, understands his role, and that’s important. … We felt we needed to address that situation with our team as far as that type of role player. It didn’t work with Donald. Again, as I’ve said, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Donald Brashear; it just didn’t work.”

Brashear, meanwhile, made his Wolf Pack debut last night, making the scoresheet with a boarding penalty 8:07 into Hartford’s 6-4 loss to Bridgeport at the Mall.

Rangers play game No. 62 today, with 20 games to play once the NHL reconvenes, beginning for the Blueshirts on March 2 (deadline day minus 1) in Ottawa. They can leapfrog Atlanta and tie Tampa for ninth in the East; either way, they’ll be sitting on the outside of the playoffs for the next couple weeks.