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VANCOUVER – They weren’t booing, they were…

Well, yes, actually the fans here last night were booing … mercilessly booing Pavel Bure every time he touched the puck in just his second game here since forcing a trade from the Canucks midway through the 1998-99 season … and booing Mark Messier throughout as well in The Captain’s second game back since returning to the Rangers during the summer of 2000.

The fans did get their chance to cheer, however, as their team defeated the Blueshirts 3-1 (the third goal coming on an empty-netter) to send the Rangers home 2-2 on their four-game trip, and 8-10-2 in a season that continues at home tomorrow night against Anaheim.

It was Messier who scored the Rangers’ goal at 13:22 of the third, and he did so while skating on a line with Bure and Eric Lindros, one constructed halfway through the final period.

Even while getting a heaping of ice time in the third, Bure finished without a point for the ninth straight game and Lindros endured his 15th straight without a goal. But the two essential marquee players did play with dramatically more verve and effectiveness than in recent games. Nice to get the ice.

In the first, Bure and Lindros were awarded the eighth- and ninth-most ice time, respectively, among Ranger forwards by coach Bryan Trottier, back behind the bench after serving his two-game suspension for inciting mayhem.

Bure, who played 4:04 in the third period of the 2-1 win in Calgary on Thursday, was on for 4:15 in last night’s first; Lindros, who played 4:02 in the third against the Flames, got 3:44 in the first. They saw increased ice time in the third. Interesting, to say the least.

“They didn’t play much in the first because there was a lot of PK [penalty killing], but they had a lot of jump in the second,” said Trottier.

“When I saw that, I was going to play the horses until they dropped.”

While Dan Blackburn made his fifth straight start in the Ranger net in the absence of the concussed Mike Richter, GM Glen Sather acknowledged that he had been on the receiving end of a number of phone calls regarding goaltending help.

“I heard from Byron Dafoe’s agent, and a few general managers, as well,” Sather said. “I told them all the same thing – that it was much too early for me to make a move. We don’t know yet how long Mike will be out. I’m not going to do anything until I have to, and I may not have to.”

If the Rangers were impotent on the attack through the second, Blackburn faced steady pressure following the first intermission. The sophomore made sterling early stops around the net on Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison as the Canucks built a 10-1 shots advantage through the first half of the period. But Vancouver finally broke through when Morrison was able to bank one in from a severe angle off Blackburn’s skate at 16:23 to culminate a shift where the Canucks were able to work down low.

And so the Rangers, who had not scored a third-period goal in a franchise-record nine straight games, went into the final period needing to end the historic streak in order to earn at least a point.

The task almost immediately became doubly difficult when Blackburn directed a rebound right out in front for Morrison, who, unmarked, banged it home for his second of the night at 1:39.