Following a stirring and much deserved ceremony honoring Brian Leetch’s career, the Rangers rallied from a one-goal deficit after two lackluster periods, and defeated the Atlanta Thrashers 2-1 when Brendan Shanahan scored the lone goal in the shootout. The pre-game festivities were emotional and very symbolical; there will never be another Brian Leetch in the Rangers’ organization. But after raising his jersey to the rafters, the packed and overjoyed Garden faithful were temporarily spent and the Blueshirts were stale from sitting on the bench during the hour long proceedings.

The fans had cheered long and loud for Leetch prior to the very important game with Atlanta. Unfortunately, the Rangers gave them precious little to cheer about for the first 40 minutes of play. With hardly any intensity, New York played not to lose on such an historic night. Thankfully, their opponent was the Thrashers, who, without their number one star Ilya Kovalchuk (sitting out with a one game suspension due to his reckless hit on Michal Rozsival two nights ago), weren’t presenting that much of a challenge.

The opening period was rather lifeless as both teams were out of step. The Thrashers kept up with the Rangers at least. In Tuesday’s game, it was a mismatch right from the start. Late in the frame, the Rangers had some serious power-play time to get the crowd back into the game and put some goals on the score board. But their special teams play was again pathetic. Even a prolonged five-on-three advantage couldn’t do any damage. Johan Hedberg repelled every shot to keep the game scoreless. With eight seconds left, Chris Drury was penalized for hooking, the Rangers’ first infraction.

Unlike the Blueshirts, the Thrashers took advantage of their power-play opportunity. Marian Hossa beat Henrik Lundqvist at the 45 second mark of the second. Rookie defenseman Tobias Enstrom fired a shot that got between Lundqvist’s pads and trickled behind him but not over the goal line. Hossa was there to tap it in for the easy tally, his 22nd of the season. It was the only goal of the period, another one in which the Rangers’ fans had little to get excited about.

Almost immediately after the puck had dropped to start the third, it was apparent that the Blueshirts had finally shaken off the rust and reawakened. There was desperation on the ice and they took the game right to the Thrashers. After several quality scoring chances, Rozsival finally solved the backup netminder when he beat Hedberg at 8:52 (his 12th) off a beautiful feed from Nigel Dawes deep in the offensive zone. With renewed energy and MSG rocking, the Rangers looked for the game-winner, but could not get it.

Regulation ended in a 1-1 tie with the Rangers, as usual, out-shooting their opponent 33-18. The ensuing overtime was more of the same as the home team spent almost the entire five minutes attacking the Atlanta net to no avail. All four shots were turned aside by Hedberg. Lundqvist could have stayed on the bench for the overtime as the Thrashers posed no threat offensively.

In the shootout, Shanahan got the first call and wasted no time. His wrist shot sailed between Hedberg’s pads for the only goal. Chris Drury and Jaromir Jagr missed in their attempts and Mark Recchi, Slava Kozlov and Marian Hossa (his last chance shot went wide) were unsuccessful as well.

Hedberg was very solid with 32 saves while Lundqvist had much less action, stopping just 17 shots (most of them not difficult). On this great night when “Number Two” was retired, it was appropriate that the Rangers scored two goals. Thankfully, it was enough as they need every point from here on out.

With the All-Star game looming, the Rangers have their mini two-game winning streak in tact and have improved their playoff position. Still in last place in the Atlantic Division (tied with the Islanders who have a game in hand) the Rangers are just on the outside in the conference standings. Their ninth place position isn’t good enough because the Isles have played one less game.

Action resumes Tuesday night in Carolina with a match versus the Hurricanes. That game marks the first of a very difficult four game road trip in six nights.