By Larry Brooks 

Could it be? Could it be that that big No. 23 playing on Brian Leetch's right side isn't Vladimir Malakhov at all, but rather Jeff Beukeboom in disguise?  

"It's funny, but the ultimate situation for me always would have been if Jeff had been the type of player who could not only separate a player from the puck, which he was great at, but then be able to make that quick pass or carry the puck out himself without making a mistake," Leetch said following yesterday's practice at Rye. "That's pretty much what Vlady has been."  

The Rangers come into tonight's game here against the Penguins having won six straight while outscoring their opponents by an aggregate 25-12, and 21-8 at even-strength. The Leetch-Malakhov pair has been on for just three full-strength goals against during the streak, and just four during the team's current 10-game (8-2) run.  

"Vlady may not use his size in the same way that Beuk did, but he leans on guys to fend them off and buy time, and then he's able to get right into the play when there's a transition," said Leetch, who has been searching for a partner since Beukeboom was forced into post-concussion syndrome retirement during the 1998-99 season.  

Malakhov, coming off his second reconstructive knee surgery in two years and attempting to play his first full season since 1998-99 - he missed 19 games because of injury that year before playing in a total of 27 the last two years for Montreal, the Devils and the Rangers - is plus-11, with 11 plus games, four evens and only one minus game of the last 16. Leetch is plus-eight, with 10 plus games, four evens and two minus matches over the same span.  

"Vlady has pretty much always been the offense-minded guy on his pairs," Leetch noted, "so when we began to play together there was some hesitation on both of our parts over who was going to go and who was going to stay back.  

"But we've gotten a pretty good feel as it's developed for reading off of each other. It's great for me to play with a partner who is as mobile as Vlady."  

If Malakhov has helped Leetch prosper, so has a dramatic early-season reduction in ice time. A year ago, Leetch played at least 30 minutes in 15 of the first 23 games - including six in which he went over the 33:00 mark - and in 28 of the first 41 while on his way to leading the league with an average of 29:21. This year, Leetch has a high of 28:37 (against San Jose on Oct. 22) while averaging just 24:25 of ice.  

"I don't know what kind of a difference it's going to make as the season progresses, because I felt good while I was getting all that ice last year," Leetch said. "But one area that's had an impact for me is that because of our depth, there are a lot of times when we'll use Tomas [Kloucek] and Dale [Purinton] late in a penalty-kill when the other team has its bigger forwards on the power play."