NHL

RANGERS NIP PENS IN SHOOTOUT

They are the same two points earned and the same one point yielded, but all shootout victories are not created equal, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Last night, the Rangers won their third shootout competition within the past four games and six days, but last night the Rangers didn’t defeat the Lightning and last night the Rangers didn’t defeat the Panthers, their prior two victims.

Last night, the Rangers defeated the upper-echelon Penguins 3-2 at the Garden despite trailing Crosby LLP 1-0 after the first, 2-0 midway through the sloppy second, and 2-1 both going into and late in the third. That was before, yes, Petr Prucha tied it with 5:57 remaining in regulation on his first goal in more than 10 months.

“The way we lost [4-0] here on Sunday to Florida and then the way we started this game, it was crucial for us to show ourselves and our fans exactly what we are,” Markus Naslund said.

The Rangers sure played with Pittsburgh. There wasn’t a player who turned away from the opportunity to get a piece of Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, with Colton Orr, Marc Staal, Blair Betts, Paul Mara and Ryan Callahan most notable. Crosby whined on the ice after Orr caught him legally in the first, then whined in the locker room.

“I don’t know if that’s what [Orr] needed to do to prove his toughness – to come after me,” Crosby said expressing a thought so preposterous that he might face suspension by the NHL language police.

Uh, no, Orr did not need to prove his toughness, but the Rangers believed that they needed to prove their worth against an elite opponent. They did so with a revamped lineup that most notably featured a dynamic Scott Gomez skating between Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev as a stop-this first line.

“We’ve had some games recently where we’ve been able to sneak by even without playing well, but this wasn’t at all like that,” Brandon Dubinsky said. “Playing Pittsburgh forced us to keep our mental focus and mental toughness.

“We’ve got another challenge [tonight] in Montreal that we’re all looking forward to, too.”

It was 2-0 midway through the second when Zherdev tipped home a drive from Gomez, who had his best game of the year. The defense, dozy in the first, began to move the puck smartly up the middle. The Rangers gained the zone off the rush and got the puck in deep.

When Drury slid across the crease behind Henrik Lundqvist to deny Crosby with 7:00 to play in the third, that set it up for Prucha to pounce on a Gomez ricochet off the back wall to score following 10 straight healthy scratches.

“I was very nervous before the game because I thought this might be my last chance,” Prucha said. “When it went in, I felt like I could start believing that I can score again.”

The Rangers – 18-8-2 overall, 7-3 in their past 10 and 7-1 in shootouts (Naslund, Zherdev and Fred Sjostrom all scored as the team’s shooters have now scored seven straight) – are believing they can play with anyone.

larry.brooks@nypost.com

SHOOTOUT: Rangers 3 Penguins 2