NHL

MORE SCORING THE GOAL FOR RANGERS

TOM Renney went to his “coach’s toolbox” in the third period Saturday in Boston, constructing 14 different lines that nevertheless turned out to be the same old saw. A Rangers team that has scored 17 goals in its past nine games lost 1-0.

Nik Zherdev has scored one goal in 15 contests, Chris Drury two in nine, Scott Gomez three in nine, and Markus Naslund three in 12 for a team possessing the 28th-best offense in the NHL.

The Thrashers, the league’s second-worst defensive team, might ride to the rescue tonight after ceremonies retiring the number of Adam Graves, a career 329-goal scorer who had 52 in 1993-94 without a skill level higher than any of the underachieving Rangers above.

Different era, we know. Different mindset, too.

When Artem Anisimov, the Rangers second-round pick in 2006, likely gets his first NHL look tonight, it will be with apparent minimal scoring expectations from Renney, never mind the kid’s 50 points in 48 games at AHL Hartford.

“He’s a good big pivot and defensively responsible player who also has exhibited some skill, can set people up and score himself,” the coach said.

“We will keep those expectations very, very low if we insert him in the lineup.”

He should fit right in on a team whose best players seem to be setting a low bar, when they are not hitting the crossbar as Zherdev and Michal Rozsival did in the third period at Boston.

The Rangers’ offensive problem begins with the absence of a bona fide first-line scorer. But the presumption of a depth of second-line scoring by Glen Sather when he reassembled this team last summer without Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan has turned into a miscalculation that no amount of Renney line juggling seems able to solve.

Anisimov was on a practice line yesterday with Aaron Voros and Lauri Korpikoski, the only other significant change being the move of Brandon Dubinsky to the wing on a line with Zherdev and Drury.

Though the coach always will take the heat for an unproductive power play, teams that don’t score at even strength generally don’t score with a man advantage either.

“I’m disappointed,” Renney said about his offense, “But we want to make sure we can do it by committee, don’t want to fall into the trap of being able to do it with a couple of guys.

“We out-chanced our opponents the last number of games. We just have to stick with it, and not get consumed by the reports of it, the [negativity].

“We’ve got a pretty good record nonetheless. And we have played real good hockey in parts of the season where we haven’t scored real well. So we have to stay with it and do the things incumbent with winning hockey games.”

Since when did that exclude scoring?

“Seems like when you play with the lead, goals three, four and five come when the other team starts cheating,” Drury said. “We haven’t had many like that.

“First and foremost we always talk about our system in the defensive zone and not giving up chances. It’s a fine line. But from the tops of the circles down we have to find a way to create goals.”

Can’t win without them.

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Dmitiri Kalinin’s back issue, which flared in Boston, seemed somewhat resolved yesterday, a decision still pending today on his availability or the Rangers debut of Erik Reitz, obtained last week from Minnesota.