NHL

RANGERS FEELING ALL RIGHT

The NHL isn’t a BCS-like operation, where teams are ranked as much on style points as on their respective records. Likewise, the Rangers don’t compete against some mythical standard set so high they never can quite attain it, but rather against all of the flawed opponents the schedule presents.

“We have very high expectations here, but we can’t be so unrealistic so that we forget to be happy with ourselves when we win games,” Henrik Lundqvist said after the Rangers stopped their losing streak at two with a 4-1 Garden victory over Wayne Gretzky’s Coyotes that was the byproduct of a proficient if not dominating performance that improved with each period.

“When you don’t play well and win, you take the positive from winning. When you play well but don’t win, you take the positive from the good parts of the game. This one, we have to feel good about ourselves and the way we played, especially in the second and third.”

There was little flashy about the victory though Nikolai Zherdev, the Blueshirts’ flashiest athlete, had his best game in weeks, playing on his toes and posing a consistent threat while collecting three assists on a line with Markus Naslund and Brandon Dubinsky, who had his most forceful game in more than a month.

Dubinsky hit the goal post on his first shift, moved up in weight class on his second shift to fight Daniel Carcillo after the Phoenix enforcer took an extra whack at Lundqvist’s pads, recorded the winner by driving the net on his first shift of the second period, and played an effective, edgy game throughout.

“I didn’t want to fight as much as I knew it would get me involved in the game,” said Dubinsky, whose wraparound ricochet off Ed Jovanovski’s skate at 1:15 of the second represented his first goal in 14 games.

“I don’t want to make [fighting] a habit, but when the puck’s not going in, I wanted to mix it up a little bit. It gave me a little more confidence and jam.”

After surrendering too many scoring chances in the first that included a handful of odd-man rushes, the Rangers were stable the rest of the way. They were much better at getting the puck in deep and establishing an offensive zone presence.

The reconfigured defense – Michal Rozsival played with Marc Staal while Dimitri Kalinin was paired with Paul Mara and Dan Girardi remained with Wade Redden – played with reasonable efficiency.

And Scott Gomez, back after a five-game absence, wheeled the puck out of harm’s way whenever called upon while also more careful with the puck than he had in the dozen games he’d played with an ankle stress fracture before leaving the lineup.

Gomez also was 19-4 in the faceoff circle after going 17-1 through two periods.

“What I notice is the calming effect he has on the team,” Dubinsky said of his fellow Alaskan. “He takes the pressure off myself and other guys; he calms things down.”

And so now the Rangers go to Tampa Bay for a match against the Lightning tomorrow night and the Panthers on Friday, having calmed things themselves. They’re 5-5-1 in the last 11 and in second place in the East.

Best of all, they don’t have to wait by the phone to learn whether they’ll get an invite to the Rose Bowl.

larry.brooks@nypost.com

Rangers 4 Coyotes 1