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In his first game since suffering a concussion following a violent collision with Flyers center Mike Knuble Feb. 17 -- one that left him unconscious for several minutes --Shanahan handed out a pair of assists in the Rangers' 5-0 victory at MSG over the Flyers.

For a few weeks he suffered from vertigo; the room would spin with the most minimal of movement. In the week following the collision, Shanahan questioned not only whether he would return this season, but if ever.

He's been injured before, but the aftereffects of his concussion were all new to him. Finally, last week, the vertigo having left him, he was cleared to begin skating. He went through a few practices, including the final test on Tuesday, when Shanahan took a few checks into the boards from teammates.

"It was tough lead-up and a tough build-up, a tough day over all," he said. "(I was) nervous and the anticipation (was difficult). It's been a long time. Once I got on the ice and got a couple of hits, it was like a normal hockey game. But leading up to it was pretty awful."

When he finally made his way back to MSG for his first game action, the scenario was similar -- the opposition were the Philadelphia Flyers and another player, Todd Fedoruk, lay motionless on the ice 21 seconds in, the result of a roundhouse right Rangers enforcer Colton Orr landed flush to his face. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher to St. Vincent's Hospital, where he was kept overnight for safety measures. In a statement, he said he was fine, but "a little sore."

"It was just a fair fight," Orr said. "It was a good fight. He is going to hit you, so you want to hit him. The same thing could've happened to me. It is part of the game."

Skating with a white sweater was Knuble, who missed 12 games after suffering a fractured cheekbone and orbital bone. The two acknowledged one another during warm-ups.

The early skirmish was retaliation from the last meeting between the two teams, when several Flyers took cheap shots at the shaken Blueshirts, reeling from watching Shanahan taken away on a stretcher.

"We knew it was big game," Jaromir Jagr said. "They beat us three weeks ago, when we thought it was gonna be easy win for us. This time, we wanted to make sure it's not gonna be the same game."

In his return, Shanahan was rusty. He hit one post, and a few shots didn't go quite where he expected them to go. But he did contribute to a pair of goals, skated for 18 shifts of 14:26, including time on special teams.

"When the holes were there I was jumping in them," he said. "The anticipation was good, the vision was good. ... I would say it's about being in the right spot and getting scoring chances. The puck is going to go in as long I get the chances."

Renney added: "He took his bumps and lumps like anybody else, and I thought he got better during the game, which is a testament to his game. He's such a competitor. I don't know how often he willed himself to get things done tonight, but he certainly didn't look like he'd been off that long."

In just 59 matches as a Ranger, Shanahan has made quite an impact - with his teammates, as well as the fans. His first game as a Ranger, Shanahan scored twice, including goal No. 600.

He took on Washington Capitals tough guy Donald Brashear in defense of Jaromir Jagr. He came to the captain's aid in another way, railing against officials for the lack of whistles in Jagr's favor. And when he went down in mid February, laying unconscious, the fans paid back that effort, chanting his name, waking him up from his momentary comatose state.

"It's great to see him back on the ice," Lundqvist said. "He's a great player and great for this team, obviously, but also on the ice and in the locker room."

In his long-awaited return, the "Shanny. Shanny," chants were back as well, reverberating throughout MSG when he stepped on the ice for his first shift, again after he recorded his second assist, and when he hopped onto the ice after being named the game's third star.

For all he's done, Shanahan has also been prophetic. During New York's darkest hours, when the playoffs looked like a far off dream, he always said that if they could scratch and claw their way there, they would be a more dangerous club than last year's outfit which ran out of gas in April.

With eight wins in their last 12 (8-3-1), that is certainly looking to be the case. In Wednesday's dominant outing, they performed on each end of the ice, moving even further into seven place in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of Montreal, Carolina, and Toronto, who are all tied for eighth.

Thanks to the revitalized play of the blue line, Henrik Lundvist notched his second shutout in his last three games, making 17 saves. The once struggling power play continued to show life, striking twice. Rookie Ryan Callahan, the star of Saturday's 7-0 throttling of Boston with two goals, keyed Sean Avery's second of the night with a defensive play, pinching back to cut off a Flyers chance.

"We're in the playoff drive," Shanahan said. "Teams are right on our heels. So as nice as it is to sit in seventh, we know -- because it happened to us -- it's a short trip back to 11th. And the intensity and focus has to be there every night. Each step now is going to be really big. We have to keep that same battle level up."