Martin Rucinsky took a four-minute penalty in overtime when his stick rode up into Mark Bell's face and the Blackhawks made the Rangers pay.

When Brent Seabrook, on the resultant four-minute 4-on-3, jammed Blair Betts along the half-boards, Jason Strudwick overplayed the puck and Tyler Arnason was able to walk out. He put a 25-footer off Henrik Lundqvist's glove 1:20 into the overtime and the Blackhawks, outplayed and outshot 30-18 in the regulation, came away with a 2-1 victory.

The loss was only the second in nine games for the Rangers, and a painful one considering they helped Nikolai Khabibulin play his best game of his short Chicago career.

The Rangers failed to score on nine power-play opportunities. And after Strudwick, working a give-and-go with Jason Ward standing behind the goal line, and Tom Poti, set by Michal Rozsival, were turned away point-blank by Khabibulin down the stretch, this opening game of a three-game midwestern swing had all the feeling of one doomed to get away,

Inevitably, Rucinsky, committing his second stick foul of the game, played The Grim Reaper, scythe and all.

"I was going to lift his stick and [Bell] brought it over and I couldn't help it," said Rucinsky. "It just went up in the air and hit him, obviously a bad play on my part.

"I should have been in more control. I put my team down a man in overtime."

Unnecessarily, a point Tom Renney hardly was reluctant to make.

"It's one of those situation where you've got an angle on the player, so just deflect him to the outside," said the Ranger coach. "You don't have to lift anybody's stick; just ride the player off the puck.

"But trying to make a transition play to get the puck back in overtime, you make those mistakes."

"Then Henrik [Lundqvist], on his forehand, flips it around where everybody in the rink figured out would be the best place to go to get the puck back. Which, they did. And then [Strudwick] overcommitted to that side and Arnason is home free.

"A very good teaching tool."

And a bad point lost, from whatever point you decided to date it from, or should we say, from which power play?

"Our power play the last month hasn't been terrific, but it's been OK," said the coach. "You're looking for building blocks, but tonight I could sense the frustration.

"We hit three or four posts, if any of those go in, it's a different game, but we hurt ourselves with our level of execution."

Even when the Rangers did good work, they quickly undid it. Almost nine minutes into the second period, Michael Nylander, jamming against defenseman Jim Vandermeer along the half-boards, jarred the puck loose for Petr Prucha, who took two strides and snapped the puck over Khabibulin's shoulder on the short side.

The lead lasted only 18 seconds, until a Nylander/Jason Ward misread in the Chicago zone trapped the Rangers into a Chicago three-on-two that trailer that Jaroslav Spacek converted coming straight up the slot.

"A misread, lack of communication," said Renney.

And one more way the Rangers let two points dissolve into just one.

This was shaping up as the Knicks' biggest victory of the season. They were on the verge of shocking the season's surprise team, the 12-5 Clippers, on the second night of a back-to-back. Instead, it was only more heart ache and teasing.

A sickly offensive performance in the second half, when the Knicks (6-12) shot 6-of-34, did them in. The Clippers rallied from a 13-point third-quarter deficit to knock off the Knicks, 84-79, at Staples Center. The Knicks finish their West Coast trip tomorrow in Phoenix.

Jamal Crawford and Stephon Marbury, who battered the Sonics the night before, shot them out of the game.

A wild Marbury missed his first five shots and finished 3-of-16 for 12 points, throwing up a number of wild runners that were way off the mark. It was an even more ragged effort than his four-point outing in this building vs. the Lakers a couple of weeks ago that prompted him to voice displeasure with his role.

Crawford, who scored 31 second-half points in Seattle, fell back to earth and was 2-of-11 for 11 points. Ironically, Curry became a major inside presence last night, finishing with a season-high 24 points and 11 rebounds. But his disgraceful free-throw shooting continued (6-of-13). Curry scored 17 in the first half when the Knicks built a 50-39 lead.

One night after dispatching the Sonics, the Knicks shot 52.5-percent and outrebounded LA. 28-18 before the break and led 63-55 after three quarters.

The Knicks had a 13-point third-quarter lead and took a 63-55 bulge into the fourth before the Clippers broke out on a 7-0 run. Walter McCarty made two straight hoops. Curry had his dunk blocked by Chris Kaman, who followed it up by scoring inside on the Knicks center, making it 63-62 with 9:52 left.

Elton Brand, who finished with 24 points, scored on a swinging hook in the lane to tie the score at 67. But the Knicks came back with Crawford feeding low for Curry, who flushed it down to put up two with 5:57 left.

Sam Cassell was knocked down in the backcourt by Curry after getting the rebound and was sent to the line with 3:04 left. He made both free throws to give L.A. its first lead since the first quarter, 72-71.

The Clippers were without Knick-killer Corey Maggette, but Quentin Ross nailed a deep left-corner jumper for a 74-71 lead with 2:10 left. Then came the dagger, as Cuttino Mobley (24 points) followed with a right-corner trey with 1:51 left pumping the lead to 77-71. The Knicks were dead, the Clippers backcourt killing them.

In his third game back from a calf strain, Curry finally displayed his inside dominance, making seven of nine shots with seven rebounds for 17 points, handling Clippers young center Kaman. Curry feasted on the glass, converting three offensive boards into baskets. He eclipsed his season high of 19 by the 8:40 mark in the third quarter.

The Knicks completed an 8-0 run late in the first quarter that coincided with Crawford entering the game.

After an awful start to the season, Crawford has become one of Brown's most trusted performers, averaging 14.6 points in 30 minutes per game off the bench. He's shooting a stout 44.3 percent after shooting under 40 percent all last season. For the second straight game, Crawford started the second half. Crawford scored all 31 of his second-half points in Seattle Tuesday.

With Richardson was placed on the inactive list, Brown turned to Penny Hardaway again.