It was a good sign for the New York Rangers that the craziness of the trade deadline didn’t change the team’s mindset when they took the ice Thursday night in Carolina. Sticking to the same philosophy that has led the Blueshirts to an 11-3-2 record over their past 16 games, they dominated much of their 4-2 victory over the Hurricanes, despite a supremely horrible debut from newcomer Christian Backman.

Backman aside, the team gave an inspired performance against a depleted, but surprisingly hot ‘Canes team. Even without key players like Rod Brind’amour, Justin Williams and Tim Gleason, Carolina had gone 6-1-1 before the Rangers rolled into town.

The Rangers, though, quickly set the tone for the game, led by their red-hot first line.

Brandon Dubinsky and Sean Avery continued to play incredibly well, using their speed and skating to outwork and out hustle the opposition, while Jaromir Jagr has maintained the willingness to adapt to their styles and do what is necessary to compliment their game.

On the team’s first goal, aggressive forechecking from the trio paid off when veteran Carolina blueliner Brett Hedican turned the puck over right to #68. Jagr made an absolutely perfect behind-the-back pass to Dubinsky, who deked forehand and pulled the puck back to his backhand and lifted it past a beaten Cam Ward.

You could almost see Jagr glowing and his confidence rising every time something he’s done in recent games has paid off. Similarly, Dubinsky has had this look on his face every time he’s scored of late, as if he can’t quite believe that what’s happening to him is real. It’s a facial expression, I’d be willing to bet, that has graced the faces of many a Ranger fan of late.

Everything seems to be going right for this trio. Avery, on the team’s second goal, fired a picture-perfect wrister right after coming off the bench and just skating to the blueline. The line played so well this game that any highlight package of this contest is dominated by their names.

Their success was only highlighted further by the fact that the other lines continued to contribute. On the Rangers’ third goal, Chris Drury executed his job perfectly on the power play, skating right to the top of the crease just as Dan Girardi fired a shot from inside the blueline. Ward made the save, but Drury was there at the perfect time to bury the rebound.

Even when the team faced adversity in this game, with Carolina’s Erik Cole netting a pair of fluky goals, the Rangers answered right back. Scott Gomez, leading a rush, dropped the puck off to Nigel Dawes, who continued to show flashes of brilliance by feeding a beautiful pass to Brendan Shanahan. Shanahan doesn’t seem to be able to do much anymore, other than shoot, that is. His shot off of Dawes’ pass was just the insurance marker the Blueshirts needed.

About the only negative for the Rangers in this game was the play of Backman. Paired with Marc Staal for his first game with the team, Backman was, frankly, horrible. Apparently, those Marek Malik comparisons were rooted in truth.

Backman made a number of turnovers in his own zone as he either took too long to make a play or simply mishandled the puck. Backman was given six penalty minutes in this game, also guilty of a double minor for high-sticking that was awarded to Staal. To be fair, Backman did serve a holding minor that should have gone to Blair Betts.

In general, when the Hurricanes were able to build momentum in the second half of the game, it was in large part due to Backman’s ineffectiveness in his own zone. Almost every time he stepped on the ice in the second and third period, the Hurricanes were able to keep the puck in the Rangers’ end. He was often caught out of position, forcing his teammates to scramble and forcing Henrik Lundqvist to work harder than he should have on this night.

All that said, it must be noted that this is the guy’s first game with a new team. He was probably under a lot of stress and pressure and even a performance this bad is forgivable under those conditions, assuming his play improves in the coming weeks.

It’s tough too complain about the other newest Ranger, Fredrik Sjostrom, who skated with Betts and Ryan Hollweg on the fourth line. Sjostrom was largely invisible, though he did show off his impressive quickness in one rush, driving to the net before being stopped by Ward on the doorstep. Defensively, he seemed more or less responsible, in his limited ice time. Tom Renney gave him the opportunity to skate with some other lines when players like Avery were serving extended time in the box.

I’d venture to guess that Backman and Sjostrom would stay in the lineup on Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers, though Renney better hope Backman settles down. A loss against a division rival that’s still in the thick of the playoff race is not what the Rangers need right now.