Something had to give for the Flyers against Stephen Valiquette and the Rangers at home. In another unpredictable contest against their nemesis, it finally did thanks to a shootout last night which allowed them to pick up a huge extra point in a hard fought 4-3 win, snapping New York’s recent dominance at Wachovia Center.

The Rangers had taken the previous seven in Philadelphia. That they even got the latest game between the Atlantic rivals was a chore in itself. Twice in a wild third which featured five goals in a 7:41 span, Tom Renney’s club fought back to tie it.

Following Daniel Briere’s first of two goals which gave the Flyers a two-goal lead, the Blueshirts responded thanks to Marek Malik’s second of the season. The much maligned defenseman who was responsible for both Flyer goals at that point came on a line change and took a Jaromir Jagr cross ice pass wristing one past Martin Biron to cut the deficit in half just 1:11 later.

Up till that point, the Flyers had played a smart disciplined defensive game taking a page from the Devils. In many ways, the tightly contested sixth regular season match-up imitated the Rangers’ prior game in which they dug deep rallying past the Devs.

However, that changed once Briere and Malik traded goals as things suddenly opened up. When rookie Nigel Dawes one-timed home a nice Christian Backman backhand feed for his 12th 1:48 after Malik’s tally, suddenly the game was knotted at two.

The game continued to open up. Following a crucial Jason Smith diving block of a Brendan Shanahan shot ticketed for the back of the net, the Flyers took advantage when Briere got position on Malik to stuff home a Scott Hartnell rebound for his 28th temporarily restoring a one-goal lead with 3:37 left.

Recently, the Flyers had had trouble protecting late third period leads. A recent OT loss to Boston comes to mind in which they tied it in the final 35 seconds and got a big extra point on an Aaron Ward winner. That disturbing trend continued thanks to an inspired shift by Jagr’s line.

Able to generate quality chances with the desperate Flyers scrambling around, eventually a key pass from Backman got to an open Jagr at the right of Biron. The Czech’s backhand went off Smith ricocheting into the net to once again tie it up with 1:51 to go in regulation.

With the momentum, they nearly went ahead on the next shift as a reconstructed Chris Drury line with Ryan Callahan and Fredrik Sjostrom was buzzing as groans came down from a concerned Flyer crowd.

Renney was forced to alter the lines due to losing two of his centers including top scorer Scott Gomez in the first when he hit a rut in the ice and went hard into the boards back in the first leaving with what was termed as an upper body injury. Well, it is crunch time. So, your guess is as good as mine.

Hopefully for the Rangers, the 67-point top pivot won’t be sidelined long as they also are without fourth line center and key penalty killing anchor Blair Betts who had minor surgery yesterday and will miss at least the next two weeks.

It forced Renney to play Ryan Hollweg at center on a make shift energy line with enforcer Colton Orr and Sjostrom before the Swede was moved up due to Gomez’ injury.

The game wound up in overtime. A touchy Marc Staal penalty gave the Flyers a golden chance to win it but their four-on-three didn’t come close thanks to some stellar penalty killing by a unit led by Drury, Malik and Michal Rozsival. They were even able to clear the puck and change for Callahan, Backman and Dan Girardi.

New York got a late opportunity but predictably accomplished zilch in the final 36 seconds forcing it to the skill competition. It hadn’t been too kind to the Flyers who entered just 1-5 including two of those defeats at the hands of the Rangers with Biron in for both.

However, this time they had the right recipe. Opening scorer Mike Richards (breakaway top shelf in first) this time went to the backhand tucking it past Valiquette’s five-hole. Having victimized Biron twice on the glove, leadoff Ranger shooter Brendan Shanahan changed it up but his backhand deke try missed wide.

When Jeff Carter went to the backhand and scored, the Flyers led 2-0 needing just one Biron stop on Ranger closer Dawes to win. They got it when the ex-Sabre netminder got just enough of a Dawes’ low shot to finally give his team a home win against the Rangers.

Notes: Gomez was x-rayed. The Rangers won’t make an announcement until some time this weekend. … Backman notched three assists for his first helpers as a Ranger earning the game’s 2nd Star. His other point as a Ranger also came against the Flyers when he scored a goal in a 5-4 win on home ice on Mar.2. … Jagr’s goal was his 19th making it only the fourth he’s scored in the last 25 games. The worst such stretch since his rookie season back in 1990-91 with Pittsburgh. No.68 finished with a goal and assist. He needs one more goal to make it 17 seasons of at least 20-or-more for his career. … With two goals, Briere was tabbed the game’s 1st Star. The ex-Sabre pivot has been red hot with six goals in his last 10 games also adding four assists for a point-a-game. … The win put the Flyers a point up on Boston for seventh in the East. … Valiquette suffered his first loss in Philly but was again razor sharp making 27 saves. Biron turned aside 23 of 26. … Without Betts, the Ranger PK killed off all six Flyer power plays. Blueshirts took the collar again in three tries. … NYR return to MSG to host Philly Tuesday night in a rematch while Flyers host the Islanders tomorrow.

Ranger point makes Atlantic even closer: Though far from their best, the Rangers’ point was a crucial one allowing them to gain ground on the first place Devils, who somehow lost at home to the Islanders last night.

From the highlights, one could easily conclude that Wade Dubielewicz stole that one. He stoned the Devils several times finishing with 33 saves to continue his dominance over New Jersey.

The Devs are still tied with the Pens for first at 91 points and 42 wins apiece with each having eight remaining including a huge game a couple of hours from now at Mellon Arena. With 88 points and seven left all against the division including two against both the Pens and Devils, the Rangers sit three out.

It will come down to who plays the best against the division down the stretch. The Rangers are an Atlantic best 17-6-2. We’ll see if they can keep it up in what should amount to a very entertaining couple of weeks as the scramble continues.