NHL

Biron gives Rangers lift in net

TORONTO — As Rangers debuts go, Martin Biron had a darn good one, recording 24 saves in last night’s 2-1 victory over the Maple Leafs. That included a left-pad stop on a Kris Versteeg breakaway with 8:15 to go and the Rangers killing a penalty while trying to preserve that one-goal edge.

“I was asked to make some saves, but the best thing was that after they scored [at 11:04 of the third] and then had that chance on the power play, it wasn’t like, ‘Here we go again,’ ” said Biron, who had backed up Henrik Lundqvist for the first four games. “Instead, we tightened up.”

Biron, who signed a two-year free agent contract moments after the market opened on July 1 following a disjointed year with the Islanders, admitted to feeling butterflies before the game.

“It was good that we got the 2-0 lead in the first. That definitely helped a lot,” he said.

The Rangers registered the game’s first five shots on goal. Biron said Clarke MacArthur’s right wing wrist shot at the 3:40 mark, the Leafs’ second shot on net, helped steady him.

“The MacArthur glove save after he made a move and then got off that shot, that settled me down,” Biron said.

John Tortorella refused to divulge his goaltending plans for the weekend, when the Rangers are in Boston tomorrow before facing the Devils at the Garden on Sunday.

It would, however, be a surprise if Henrik Lundqvist didn’t go back-to-back, especially given his excellence in the Bruins’ building, where he has allowed no more than one goal in six of his nine career starts and has allowed more than two once in recording a 1.29 goals against average.

Tortorella said one of the reasons he chose to go with Biron last night was to allow Lundqvist to get in the hard work at practice over a few days that he doesn’t get when he’s playing a string of games.

“These are important days for Hank,” Tortorella said. “When you’re playing all the time you don’t get to work on the things you need to work on.”

It was an important game for Biron, who is targeted to get 15-18 starts, but will be consistently called on only if he plays well.

“This was a good thing for us,” Tortorella said of Biron’s work. “It’s something we were looking for. It gives the coaches some flexibility in that position.”

Ryan Callahan said, “Marty came up with key saves. It’s nice we can rely on him and give Hankie a break when he needs one.

“But it’s not a surprise. He’s a good goalie.”

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Derek Boogaard engaged in his first fight as a Ranger, dropping the gloves with Colton Orr at 2:21 of the first.

Boogaard, who came into the season averaging 5:09 of ice time for his career, got four shifts for 2:59, and did not play in the third period.

Despite the bout between the clubs’ designated heavyweights, there was no carryover whatsoever from the raucous 4-3 Toronto OT victory at the Garden last Friday in which Marian Gaborik sustained a separated shoulder on Colby Armstrong‘s boarding hit.

When Armstrong was asked at the morning skate if he expected retribution, he said he expected to be hit hard as always, and would keep his head, “on a swivel,” but that he didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary.

Moments later he turned to a teammate and said that was the stupidest question he’d ever been asked in his life.

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Steve Eminger sat out for the first time to accommodate Michael Sauer‘s return to the lineup following two consecutive healthy scratches.

Sauer (9:35) played the right on the third pair with Matt Gilroy (10:21). Gilroy rang one off the crossbar in the second period as the trailer on a 3-on-1.

larry.brooks@nypost.com