By Arthur Staple

Darius Kasparaitis is something of a cut-up - more Farrelly Brothers than Seinfeld - so even when he's trying to be serious, he's still pretty funny. Take his comments from Monday night, after he had two assists and yet another patient, solid game in the Rangers' 4-2 win over the Bruins.

Kasparaitis, a plus-5 with a goal and seven assists (his career high for points is 23), has had to explain often how his horrible start to last season - his first as a Ranger after signing a six-year, $25.5-million free agent contract - is now just a memory.

"You can get a little bit anxious to find somebody to hit but I don't think that's going to happen when you start looking for them," said Kasparaitis, who was a minus-18 through 55 games last season but is plus-28 in his last 58 games. "They're going to happen if you wait and it will happen at the right moment.

"It's like goal-scoring - when you get the feeling, you get the feeling."

Funny stuff from a guy who went 53 games between goals, scoring his first of this season on Saturday in Ottawa. He never lost his sense of humor through his struggles last season, but it definitely goes over better in the dressing room when the class clown is playing well.

"He's just playing with so much confidence right now, it's easy to see," said Greg de Vries, Kasparaitis' defense partner for much of the past dozen games and a teammate of Kasparaitis' briefly in Colorado at the end of 2001-02. "He's stepping up to keep pucks in the offensive zone, staying patient in our zone. He's fun to play with right now."

And comical, too. He went shopping for a few of his No. 6 jerseys at the team's store the other day and came away with just one - a lapel pin with his number and name on it. "I guess I know what they think of me," he said.

Actually, it's not that bad. His long-term contract makes him nearly untradeable, so the team is certainly relieved at his turnaround. "He's played well for this last little while," Glen Sather said. "He's just taking the hit when it comes to him."