NHL

Rangers’ Zuccarello shines in shootout — again

ATLANTA — He is the Mats the Magnificent, this Zuccarello from Norway, whose shootout goal off a deke against Ondrej Pavelec stood as the lone score in the skills competition and thus propelled the Rangers to their 3-2 victory last night over the Thrashers.

Zuccarello is now 3-for-3 in the competition, as is the injured Erik Christensen. The rest of the Rangers’ shooters have gone a combined 0-for-14, including Wojtek Wolski, who was denied is his first try as a Blueshirt.

The Rangers are 4-1 in shootouts, and Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped all three last night, is 3-1 and perfect in all three victories, allowing three goals on 20 total shots.

Despite his success, Zuccarello told The Post that he remains nervous about going in the one-on-one contest.

“I know it’s a big honor to be picked by the coach and that the team is counting on you, so I’m nervous,” he said. “I know that a lot of other guys would like to have the honor of being picked, so it is a big responsibility for me to come through for my teammates.”

Zuccarello, who was on top of the puck all night, has played 15 games as a Ranger, and is the senior to a handful of newbies promoted in recent weeks. Nevertheless, Zuccarello, the MVP last season of the Swedish League, hardly pretends to know it all.

“You always have to be reminded of how to play,” Zuccarello said. “You can’t be here for [15] games and think you have it all learned.

“You have to learn every day so you can do your job helping your teammates,” he said. “They are counting on me like I count on them. It’s a trust issue. If everyone knows their job, you have confidence. If you don’t, then it’s tough to be trusted.

“I want to be in that position where I am trusted.”

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There is no timetable for Vinny Prospal, but the veteran who has yet to play this year because of a knee injury that required preseason surgery was relatively optimistic after a hard skate with the club yesterday morning.

Ryan Callahan, out since Dec. 15 with a broken hand, remains on target to return on Feb. 1, in the first game after the All Star break. Erik Christensen, out since Dec. 29 with a knee injury, should begin skating in about a week.

Rangers coach John Tortorella said he was pleased with response to Friday’s team meeting and video session that focused on defense and play without the puck.

“I thought we were much better,” Tortorella said. “I don’t want to get into specifics, but you could see it on certain plays that we had highlighted in the meeting. It was definitely much better.”

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Marian Gaborik, who had two shots on net in 20:24, was more visible than he was in Thursday’s 3-2 defeat in Carolina, but nowhere near good enough. Sean Avery was on top of the puck almost all night in 19:38 of work playing with Gaborik and Artem Anisimov. . . . Wojtek Wolski snapped a Derek Stepan feed past Ondrej Pavelec for the Blueshirts’ first goal, his third in seven games as a Ranger.

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The Rangers, who have been limited to two goals or fewer (not counting awarded shootout winners) in 11 of their last 12 games while going 6-5-1 in that span, are in Washington tomorrow night before facing the Panthers at home on Tuesday in the pre-break finale.