Kevin Klein’s magical season continued. The steady defenseman’s late goal helped the Rangers post a come from behind 3-2 win in a shootout over the Hurricanes. It was their season high fifth straight win allowing them to stay within two of the Capitals (4-0 winners over Devils).

Mats Zuccarello scored the only goal in the shootout and Henrik Lundqvist made a glove save on Chris Terry to clinch the victory. It was Zuccarello’s playmaking earlier in the third period that sent J.T. Miller in for a breakaway goal on the power play that finally ended Cam Ward’s shutout bid. Miller continues to play well since coming up from Hartford. He has four goals and an assist in eight games.

That’s not the only positive during the win streak. Zuccarello has played his best hockey tallying two goals and three helpers plus the shootout decider. Chris Kreider has picked it up too notching the primary assist on Klein’s tying goal with 2:23 left. A nifty set up for Klein’s seventh. He’s been more noticeable the past four games shooting the puck and finishing checks. Ward denied him twice late in the second.

For a while, it looked like the Rangers might come away empty handed. The Canes were able to take advantage of a couple of mistakes for both their goals. They drew first blood following a turnover when Terry buried a Nathan Gerbe feed past Lundqvist on a two-on-one. Ryan McDonagh was too late. He and partner Dan Girardi struggled. A couple of minutes later, Girardi was bailed out by Lundqvist, who denied Jeff Skinner following a great move.

Despite holding a 24-13 shots edge through two, they trailed 1-0. They took some ill advised penalties. Martin St. Louis, McDonagh and Tanner Glass were guilty of silly minors that could’ve proved costly. However, the penalty kill did the job. That included a great solo effort from Rick Nash with Glass in the box for interference. He nearly scored shorthanded. He and Derek Stepan have great chemistry. It reminds me of how Stepan and Ryan Callahan were together. They are terrific and always get chances.

It took until 4:01 into the third for them to break through. Following a McDonagh outlet, Zuccarello threaded the needle to a streaking Miller who broke in and deked Ward with a sweet forehand finish to tie it. But just 26 seconds later, Skinner made another great effort sneaking a backhand past Lundqvist, who misplayed it.

It looked like they would fall short. But Klein came to the rescue again. This time, Stepan and Kreider combined to set him up for a quick one-timer that beat Ward at 17:37. It was a perfect shot. Lundqvist was kidding when he said Klein has the best shot of all our defensemen. It certainly is accurate. Most notably, he gets it through. He really reads plays well and has been a perfect fit for Alain Vigneault’s system. Michael Del Zotto may one day become the answer to Rangers Trivia.

What was admirable is they were able to overcome having a tying goal wiped out. Matt Hunwick thought he tied the game but Derick Brassard accidentally made contact with Ward knocking off his helmet. I was over at a buddy’s in South River reunited with Brian, who’s home for the holidays. We didn’t see much of the game because we watched football. But I saw plenty of reaction on Twitter with most of our contingent saying we were robbed. All I had to do was tweet Rick Carpinello, who said it was the right call. I didn’t see it until now and I agree wholeheartedly. It’s a rule and the right decision was made.

”Maybe earlier in the year, you get a bounce like that and you get down on yourself,” Klein said of the tough break. ”I thought the resilience our team showed, not to let up, we just turned to each other and said, ‘Just keep going.”’

It’s that approach that this team has gotten back to. That’s why they’re up to 16-10-4 with 36 points in 30 games. They’ve played two fewer games than Washington. They’ll make one up later tonight in the MSG rematch. Then host the Caps Tuesday.

”I made a mistake there and it could have cost us,” Lundqvist said. ”I felt like we deserved the two points, but things happened. The most important thing is, we never gave up here. We kept working hard and I think we deserved this one.”