OVERTIME

Penguins 4

Rangers 3

PITTSBURGH – They lost to the Penguins on a Sidney Crosby power-play goal with 1:29 remaining in an overtime during which they never got to skate even a second at even-strength, yet the Rangers were so feeble at five-on-five throughout the afternoon, they really had no kick coming.

No kick coming on the unsportsmanlike conduct call assessed the twice-previously-warned Marek Malik at the end of regulation for running his mouth at referee Craig Spada; no kick on the delay-of-game call against Michal Rozsival that followed 1:58 later when the defenseman carelessly cleared into the stands. No kick coming against the lack of a hooking call against Crosby when No. 87 took Rozsival down in the corner.

No kick coming because the Rangers didn’t have a leg to stand on. How does one even-strength shot on net over the final 43:31 sound?

To Tom Renney, it sounded off-key.

“There’s a way we have to play from A-to-Z to be effective and we missed a couple of letters, to say the least,” the head coach said following yesterday’s 4-3 defeat. “You have to be honest with yourself when you’re not good enough; let’s not camouflage it.”

The Blueshirts registered 11 shots in the first period, then six the rest of the way – including the lone one at even-strength off the stick of Michael Nylander at 8:02 of the third, and that from around the net just three seconds after the end of a power play. In other words, for the final two periods of regulation, the Rangers could not and did not send even one shot on Marc-Andre Fleury that was generated by a five-on-five attack.

“We didn’t get anything and neither did they at five-on-five,” said Jaromir Jagr, who broke a 16-game PPG drought with his seventh five-on-three late in the first. “I don’t know whether it was bad offense or good defense.”

Each team was 3-for-8 on the PP, with Tomas Surovy’s score just 1:35 in off a sweet dish from Crosby the only even-strength goal of the match, though the Penguins did get 37 shots on Henrik Lundqvist, outstanding in defeat.

“I want to win every game,” said the obviously perturbed goaltender, who faced bump-and-run traffic throughout “Every loss is tough . . . and it’s always frustrating to lose in overtime.”

It was frustrating that the Rangers never could get Jagr on the ice for the four-on-four OT; frustrating that they weren’t able to flaunt their weapons in a shootout. But, again, this was on them – and on Malik, who was sent to the box after complaining to Spada one too many times.

“I was telling him that it didn’t make him a better referee to talk to me like a rookie; I deserve more respect than that,” said the 30-year-old veteran. “I told him that a few times, but when he gave me the penalty I wasn’t even talking to him, I was talking to the bench.

“No matter what, the bottom line is that it was a stupid thing by me. I should have shut up. I let the team down and have to take responsibility for that.”

All well and good, but the responsibility for creating offense – for winning battles along the boards, for getting a down-low game going against the NHL’s second-poorest defensive team, for generating a rush attack – lay with everybody.

And on the final day of the year, no one could particularly get it done.

larry.brooks@nypost.com