A couple of years ago, Ranger coach Tom Renney didn’t do his team any favors by going public about their opponents’ tendency to embellish penalties against his club. Not surprisingly, it came off wrong looking like a built in excuse for why the Rangers were handled by the Hudson rival Devils, who ironically enough are the same first round opponent two years later.

If there was a valuable lesson learned from that rough experience in which the Devils swept Renney’s team out of the playoffs, it was that the affable coach’s complaints didn’t help his team. Jaromir Jagr also lost his cool near the end of Game One going out of character to try to punch then opponent Scott Gomez injuring himself and any realistic chance a thin Ranger offense had of competing against a more well balanced and experienced Devil club that Spring.

Lesson learned. The second time around, Renney has taken a different tact with the officials in the fifth Battle of Hudson. This series has had its share of questionable calls for both sides in a very physical and intense match-up. If there’s been one noticeable change from two years prior, it’s the Rangers’ willingness to compete against an opponent whose reputation has always been to bang around and get dirty.

In particular, it’s been the Blueshirts’ more aggressive game plan of going hard to the net which has paid off driving Martin Brodeur nuts no matter what he says. It can’t be easy for the three-time Stanley Cup winner when pesky Rangers such as Ryan Callahan and nemesis Sean Avery are in his face constantly. Heck. Even the perimeter oriented Jagr stepped out of character the other night and took the puck hard to the net accidentally kneeing the Devils’ best player as he went by.

On the play, No.68 was properly given a goalie interference call while Brodeur got an unsportsmanlike conduct for diving. The three-time Vezina winner does have a tendency to overdo it when players come near his crease. However, I’ve seen worse than what happened in that instance where he got nabbed.

In Game Four, Avery also drove hard to the net being hauled down by Devil defenseman Colin White sliding into his “best friend.” Sure, he was pulled down and the momentum carried him towards the net but you always have to wonder with Avery. He tends to accentuate.

When the hard fought game had concluded in which his team fell short to fall behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, first-year Devil coach Brent Sutter questioned the Rangers’ tactics. He had to stick up for his star player, who needs all the help he can get with a defense which has allowed their opponent to get to the dirty areas too easily.

If you heard or watched Brodeur’s postgame commentary Wednesday night, then you know he wasn’t overly happy with his team’s play. They were guilty of lazy turnovers which the Rangers turned into goals including Marc Staal’s winner. Instead of taking issue with how the games have been called, the franchise netminder credited his opponent for their aggressiveness.

Translation: His teammates aren’t getting it done. They’ll need to battle harder if they’re to extend the series tonight.

While Brodeur hasn’t complained, Sutter’s commentary after Game Four was heard loud and clear by Renney, who wisely took the high road even ignoring a Zach Parise play which saw the gritty Dev knock Henrik Lundqvist’s stick out leading to Mike Mottau’s tying goal. John Dellapina of the Daily News had a good article on the hot topic as the Rangers aim to eliminate their archrival tonight in Newark.

On the subject, Renney brought up some valid observations:

“Let’s not make too much out of this. Both teams play hard. The net is the end point. What are we supposed to do, just stand off to the side and throw pucks at him? It’s not the way the game’s played. Both teams and 16 teams are doing the same thing.

“That’s how you play. That’s how you win at this stage. … The one thing we know for sure is that we’ve never said to our guys, ‘Go after Marty Brodeur.’ We’ve never, ever preached that as a coaching staff. And we probably never would, with anybody.“

Such a poignant response was definitely the right way to go. Especially with his team a game away from the second round. There will always be lots of talking during playoff series. However, it’s how you handle adversity which ultimately decides whether your team advances.

Thus far, Renney’s team has dealt with the elements better than Sutter’s club. We’ll see if they have the killer instinct needed to finish a pesky opponent off in Game Five.