On a day in which the Bruins honored Willie O’Ree for breaking the color barrier 50 years ago today, the harder working undermanned Boston club fought back to defeat the Rangers 4-3 in a shootout at home this afternoon.

The win moved the Bruins (23-18-5) into a seventh place tie with the Islanders, who host the Flyers later tonight. It was the second straight win for the B’s this season over the Blueshirts with both wins coming via the skills competition. They also prevailed back on Oct.20 1-0. Tim Thomas again got the better of Henrik Lundqvist, who came away shaking his head in frustration after both Phil Kessel and Bruins’ captain Zdeno Chara beat him to gain a valuable extra point.

Truthfully, this was one of Lundqvist’s best performances this season. It’s no secret that the 25 year-old Swede has struggled recently in part due to his ailing father. With him getting better, King Henrik was splendid in making 36 saves including a few big ones during a Boston four-on-three man-advantage during the final two minutes of overtime.

He deserved better but his Jekyll & Hyde teammates managed to quickly blow a one-goal third period lead. After leading scorer Scott Gomez perfectly setup antagonist Sean Avery with a no-look feed for a power play tally at 8:08, an undisciplined Paul Mara interference penalty led directly to the tying goal.

Having already cashed in on one lazy Ranger penalty late in the second to go ahead when Chuck Kobasew beat Lundqvist on a breakaway while being tripped up by Michal Rozsival, the Bruins used a similar formula to knot the game back up. Marco Sturm took a Dennis Wideman pass and then went right up the seam getting in on Lundqvist, who made two sprawling saves to rob him. But Kobasew was left all along to deposit the loose change for his second of the contest. The goal came just 82 seconds after Avery had tallied his first since Nov.10 in a 3-2 win at Toronto.

It was indicative of just how frustrating and unpredictable Tom Renney’s club has been this season. From their unwillingness at times to shoot the puck on power plays to their inability to protect leads, this team which had such lofty expectations has teased fans instead. They haven’t competed consistently and once again were outworked by a Claude Julien more disciplined team who skated without seven regulars for the crucial first of a home-and-home series with the second wrapping up at Madison Square Garden tomorrow afternoon on NBC.

Despite Gomez finishing with a goal and two helpers for his 10th multiple point game of the season and captain Jaromir Jagr notching a tying goal 3:27 into the third along with two assists, the Rangers wasted a golden opportunity to gain valuable ground on a team they’re competing with in the standings.

They were fortunate to even get a point because after the B’s tied it, it was their little known young forwards who generated chance after chance late with only a sharp Lundqvist (17 third period saves) keeping them at bay to force OT.

In it, the Rangers caught a bad break when Jagr was pushed into Thomas by Boston defenseman Mark Stuart as the stripes awarded a bogus goalie interference penalty.

All day, they made very questionable calls while letting other stuff go. No surprise as that’s become the norm in many NHL games since the two referee system was instituted.

Though Lundqvist got it to a shootout without much help from Marek Malik who couldn’t make a simple clear in the final moments, it wouldn’t matter because the two Ranger shooters fired blanks while Boston’s came up golden.

In the second round, Kessel deked before tucking the puck thru Lundqvist’s five-hole to put his team ahead. After Petr Prucha was denied by a Thomas pad near the goalline, Chara came in and ripped a 15-foot slapper past the Ranger goalie off the far right post and in which ended it.

It concluded another disappointing day for this underachieving bunch who for some unknown reason continues not to put out the maximum effort that’s required to win consistently.

“I saw urgency and intensity in the last 25 games of last year,” a disappointed Avery noted about last season’s run.

“That’s urgency and intensity. Not right now, not how we’re playing. I wish it were different, but it’s not.”

That explains plenty about a team which remains undisciplined and takes far too many lazy penalties. Like lone All-Star representative Gomez pointed out a couple of days ago, the coach doesn’t hold anyone accountable. Something the former Devil who helped them win two Stanley Cups isn’t used to.

Maybe if Renney grew a pair, his team might actually respond. Why does this seem very similar to last year’s Mets?

They better hope not.