This was one in which the Rangers played with suitable snarl, the power play stirred, and the penalty kill was pristine.

But the 5-3 licking of the Hurricanes at the Garden on Friday was driven by the Big Dogs, with Artemi Panarin (1-2), Mika Zibanejad (2-1) and Chris Kreider (1-1) combining for four goals and four assists and Henrik Lundqvist turning back 39 shots while facing almost unending chaos in front.

“It’s not about being the best team all the time, it’s more about being the smarter team,” said Lundqvist, who was sharp and unusually aggressive from the get-go. “We talked about that after the second period.”

The first game following the three-day holiday hiatus is generally a wide-open and sloppy affair. This was no different. Both teams committed a bevvy of blunders. The Rangers, though, took advantage of wide open spaces by consistently getting the puck in deep and controlling the play below the hash marks.

“Carolina has a top-end D-corps and we did a great job getting the puck in behind their D and getting support,” coach David Quinn said. “Our wall play was pretty good. We played large chunks down there.”

There was, however, a cloud to spoil the silver lining of the Blueshirts extending their record to 3-0 this season against the Candy Canes despite Lundqvist facing 40 or more shots — 47, 43 and 42, respectively, while allowing a sum of seven goals. And that is the fractured hand sustained in the third period by Brendan Lemieux that will necessitate a recall of a forward from the AHL Wolf Pack, perhaps for Saturday’s game in Toronto.

But beyond that, this was a very good night for the Rangers and for Quinn, who followed the advice of his video coaches and challenged an apparent Carolina power-play goal, which would have tied the game 2-2 at 5:28 of the second period, for being offside.

Evidence was on the Rangers’ side, but you never really know with these things. Had the challenge not been upheld, the Rangers would have been shorthanded again after already having taken back-to-back minors at 2:39 and 4:37. But of course, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d still be celebrating Christmas.

Instead, 2-2 reverted to 2-1, which became 3-1 just over two minutes later when Panarin scored.

“Obviously their ‘tying goal’ being turned back and then to go up 3-1 was pretty big for our confidence,” said Lundqvist, who could go back-to-back and thus get his fourth straight start Saturday. “That was very important.”

So was production from the power play, which had produced nothing but angst in going 0-for-18 over 34:44 over the previous four games. Quinn moved Ryan Strome back onto the first unit to form a four-righty look with Kreider the lone lefty. For this night, it was quite all right, the team going 2-for-4 with Zibanejad getting both, the first off a superb against-the-grain backhand centering feed from Kreider, the next when No. 93 found a loose puck in front after Tony DeAngelo’s shot from the top had been blocked.

Zibanejad’s first one tied the score at 16:31 of the first period after the Hurricanes had gone up 1-0 at 5:15 following a Brady Skjei giveaway. It wasn’t the best of nights for No. 76, who had committed an egregious turnover right out of the gate and was removed from the penalty-kill unit in favor of Ryan Lindgren. The killers snuffed all five Carolina advantages.

So it was 1-1 after the first period, the tie broken by Kreider at 1:27 of the second, the winger converting a nifty two-on-one feed from Zibanejad off a fake wrist shot that froze goaltender James Reimer. Bang-bang, and Kreider had his fourth goal in five games after recording four in the previous 19 matches.

“[Zibanejad] is such a special player,” the always praise-deflecting Kreider said, talking about the chemistry between him and his center. “He’s so underrated, he makes everybody around him better. He makes my job easy.”

Carolina scored late in the second and then early in the third to turn 4-1 into 4-3. And while the ’Canes crashed the net at every opportunity thereafter, the Blueshirts played with poise and protected the house. Jacob Trouba had a strong night on the back end and so did Marc Staal. The Rangers moved within six points of a playoff spot.

“A good step in the right direction,” Zibanejad said. “But we need more of these type games. We’re not going to make it up overnight.”

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