NHL

RANGERS’ COACH FEELS JOB IS SAFE

On Friday, the Rangers allowed six third-period goals in losing 10-2 at Dallas. The two games before that, the Blueshirts scored a total of one goal. The game prior to that, the Rangers allowed five third-period goals in losing 6-2 at Pittsburgh on Jan. 28.

If this isn’t the type of stretch that necessarily gets a coach fired, it is most certainly the type of stretch that leads to questions about whether the coach is about to be fired. It most certainly is the type of stretch that prompts the question of whether the team has tuned out the coach.

It is the question The Post posed yesterday to coach Tom Renney after he conducted a team meeting at the practice rink.

“It’s a question that has an inevitability to it regarding anyone’s shelf life, but I do believe they’re listening to me,” said Renney, the Rangers’ coach since Feb. 25, 2004. “I do not believe it’s reached the point where the message has become redundant.

“I know this group [of players]. I firmly believe they want to do well for the organization, themselves and the coaching staff, but I’m not sure that they know how, and that’s generally what the conversation just now was about.

“I don’t believe that a change is being considered and with the relationship I have with the organization, I think I would be aware of it if that were the case. I don’t sense we’re anywhere near that.”

GM Glen Sather was not available to talk about either Renney’s status or the team. But Renney said he believes in the team and in the system some believe is stifling.

“We’ve got to get back to the commitment of being a good team here, where every guy is responsible for contributing as he is best equipped to do,” said Renney. “We’ve got to strip it down to bare bones where it’s simply about each individual and his commitment to the organization.

“I have no problem with creativity. Defensive responsibility does not stifle creativity. I have a problem with turnovers at the blue line or three forwards fishing for the puck below the goal line.

“Those are the kinds of things that can’t be tolerated and won’t be tolerated, and I’m not talking about just skipping over a guy for a shift or two, either.”

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Sean Avery, placed on waivers yesterday, should clear at noon tomorrow, thus paving way for the winger’s assignment to the AHL Wolf Pack in the wake of a conversation Friday night between Sather and Dallas co-GM Les Jackson.

But instead of waiting for the S tars to put Avery on re-entry waivers while he skates in Hartford as a member of the Dallas organization, No. 16 could be placed on re-entry Tuesday, with the Rangers claiming him on Wednesday before sending him to the Wolf Pack on a conditioning assignment.

That would allow the Rangers to be in complete control of the timetable while at the same time reducing the slim possibility of another team beating the Blueshirts to a re-entry claim.

Under this scenario it is possible that Avery could be on the ice for the Blueshirts by the weekend of Feb. 21-22, if not for the match against the Islanders at the Garden a week from Wednesday.

larry.brooks@nypost.com