Tom Renney was already coaching the Rangers against the Minnesota Wild hours before the first puck was dropped.

During a morning video session, Renney instructed his players to be prepared for the Wild and their trapping system and to be ready for a dogfight at the end.

Petr Prucha scored a career-high two power-play goals, including the tiebreaker with 8:29 remaining, and the Rangers got back on the winning track with a 3-1 victory over Minnesota last night.

“I said, ‘Don’t be surprised if it’s 1-1 going into the third period,'” Renney said.

He was right and the Rangers responded. Prucha jumped on a rebound of Martin Straka’s shot and chipped it over sprawled-out goalie Dwayne Roloson for his ninth goal. Prucha also gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first period.

Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves to improve to 8-1-1 at home, two nights after allowing five goals on 21 shots in a loss at Washington that snapped New York’s six-game winning streak. Martin Straka scored an empty-net goal with 19 seconds left for the Rangers, who held a 19-4 shots advantage in the third period.

Martin Rucinsky, playing for only the second time in 17 games because of a knee sprain, had three assists.

New York has won five straight at home. The really surprising thing is that the Rangers generated 40 shots, 37 of which were stopped by Roloson.

“We knew they were going to sit back and wait for their chances,” Straka said. “After 40 minutes, Coach Renney told us to be patient and hopefully we would get our chances.”

That’s where Prucha came in. He cleaned up in front twice, giving himself four goals in five games and nine in his rookie season.

Pascal Dupuis scored late in the second period for the Wild, who entered with the NHL’s best penalty-killing unit. Minnesota allowed more than one power-play goal in a game for only the third time this season.

The first period was very un-Wild like as the Rangers grabbed the lead with a power-play goal on a shot Roloson should’ve kept out.

Jaromir Jagr worked a two-man game with Prucha and let a shot go from the right circle that Roloson appeared to gobble up in his midsection. But before he could secure the puck, it dropped into the crook of his right arm and fell into the crease. Prucha swooped in and knocked it in before Roloson could cover.

New York converted on its first man advantage, snapping a streak of 12 straight penalty kills by the Wild. Roloson seemed to fight the puck all night, but got away with only two goals against.

“They’re very creative,” he said of the Rangers. “They don’t blow many chances.”