Canadiens 3 Rangers 0 MONTREAL – Whatever success the Rangers have enjoyed this season has been powered by their work on their specialty teams.

That – plus uniformly excellent goaltending – is the only reason the team has been able to remain on the fringes of the playoff race.

And so when the Rangers can’t score with the man-advantage, and can’t hold the opposition off the boards when down a man, there is almost no chance of success.

Which, quite simply, brings us here, and to last night’s 3-0 defeat to Jeff Hackett and the Canadiens.

Without speed to back in the defense, without size to muscle up in the corners and in front, the Rangers barely raised an even-strength sniff against the Montreal goaltender.

But, then again, having been outscored 90-74 at even-strength coming into the match, that was hardly surprising.

What the Rangers needed last night to avoid slipping back to two games under .500 was a strong night from the power play.

They didn’t get it.

Not only did they fail to score on three advantages, extending their streak to 0-for-15 in the last three games, they came up critically short on a five-on-three that lasted 1:02 early in the second period when the score was just 1-0.

It marked the third straight time covering 4:40 that the Rangers had failed on a five-on-three since Petr Nedved scored a picturesque goal off a Wayne Gretzky feed in Colorado on New Year’s Eve.

“When you get into this point of the season, especially against a team that’s as well coached as Montreal, the opposition is going to study your patterns,” said Gretzky.

“So instead of going back to what you feel you do best and relying too much on what you’ve done in the past, you have to take what they’re not giving you. We didn’t do that.”

With Gretzky, Nedved and Brian Leetch forming three-fifths of the unit, the Rangers like to work the puck around the perimeter for a one-timer.

But they’ve been way too picky in the last three failures-last night; a week ago today against Tampa Bay; Jan. 4 against San Jose. It seems as if they’ve been looking for the perfect goal, when any garbage goal would do.

“We’re going to have to change that five-on-three; it’s not working at all,” said John Muckler.

They’re not getting any shots on the five-on-three, but then again they’re not getting many shots at any time. Trailing 1-0 after one on Vladimir Malakhov’s screened PPG against Dan Cloutier at 7:34, the Rangers produced just eight shots in the final 40 minutes, including three in the third period.

So even though Montreal didn’t get another until Brian Savage popped one in on a power play scramble at 6:32 of the third, the Rangers never seemed as if they were a threat.

“They really took over the game after we didn’t capitalize on the five-on-three,” said Gretzky.

“I thought the effort was good, but we just couldn’t generate offensive chances,” said Muckler. “We’re going through a period where we can’t score.’

The Rangers, who lost at home 3-1 to Chicago on Friday, have been shut out five times. They’ve scored one goal in 12 games, two goals in another seven. Thus, the Rangers have scored two goals or less in 24 of their 43 matches.

“It’s really feast or famine,” said Muckler. “We either get six goals or one goal…or none’

The Rangers have been limited to two goals or less in six of their last 11 games. And in the five games of that stretch where they surpassed that total, they faced inferior goaltending. To wit:

In Carolina on Dec. 26, dreadful Arturs Irbe and reliever Trevor Kidd. In Colorado on New Year’s Eve, back-up Craig Bilington. Against the Sharks on Jan. 4, back-up Steve Shields. Against the Lightning last Sunday, shaky Bill Ranford. Against the Islanders on Wednesday, rust-coated Felix Potvin.

Put the Rangers up against a top goaltender, and they don’t score, at least not at even-strength.

Nedved now has just one goal and one assist in his last eight games after piling up 21 points (8-13) in his first 16 matches.

His play last night seemed distracted; at one point in the first he dropped a broken stick behind Cloutier’s net and swept away from the play, only to leave Patrick Poulin all alone in the slot for a point-blank drive. The goaltender, just fine throughout, rescued him.

Nedved tweaked his knee last Sunday, and so Muckler was asked whether the center was 100-percent healthy.

“One hundred percent,” Muckler said. “Petr’s been dry now for a bit. That’s where the goals have to come from.’

That’s one place to start.