NEW YORK — This time, the Rangers didn't just leave the ceremony to stand on its own. This time, the current Rangers took care of business as well.

Having put day- and night-dampening ends to their last three memorable occasions by losing the game that went along with the commemoration, the Rangers Thursday night followed up Mark Messier's number retirement with a rollicking 5-4 overtime victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

Just as he had on the day Wayne Gretzky played his last game in the NHL, Jaromir Jagr scored the overtime goal that settled matters. This time, though, he sent Rangers fans home happy by converting a Michal Rozsival feed just 14 seconds into the four-on-four extra session to win it.

Jagr had put the downer ending on Gretzky's finale by tallying for Pittsburgh in overtime on April 18, 1999. The Rangers also had lost one-goal games the night Mike Richter's number was retired (4-3 to Minnesota on Feb. 4, 2004) and the night Messier played his final game (4-3 to Buffalo on March 31, 2004.)

"That's special for me, of course," Jagr said of the goal he scored six years ago and the one he tallied Thursday night. "I scored in overtime in Wayne Gretzky's last game here and I scored in overtime tonight. Of course, it's great."

Messier was honored with a ceremony lasting more than an hour that culminated with Messier's No. 11 rising to the Madison Square Garden rafters.

The Rangers dressed and lined up along the corridor wall outside their dressing room to form an honor guard for Messier's entrance to the ice. And both teams filed onto their respective benches early in the ceremony, each wanting to witness history.

"It was awesome," said defenseman Tom Poti, one of the few current Rangers who played with Messier. "It was just so cool seeing Mark out there and seeing how much everybody respects him.

"I even got a little teary-eyed seeing the banner go up — and that doesn't usually happen with me. It was so great obviously to be able to play with him but also to be part of his banner night as well."