With Eric Lindros as the focal point, the New York Rangers have taken six weeks to come together as a team. They have undergone tremendous change with the addition of Lindros and a few injury comebacks on the blue line and in net. Now, even though it's still early in the season, the Rangers seem to have all the elements in place to be a playoff team.

It all starts with Lindros, who faces his former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, for the first time Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. Let's face it: Lindros needed time to find his game. After missing an entire season, it's only human nature that it would take him awhile to feel his way around, get comfortable on the ice and not worry about getting hit.

With the Rangers on a five-game win streak, Lindros is starting to make a difference. There are signs of him beginning to roll and get the feel back. He is also developing chemistry with linemates Theo Fleury and Mike York. Lindros gets paid to dominate, and he is beginning to do that on the team's top scoring line. Lindros, Fleury and York have combined for 23 points during the Rangers' streak.

Lindros' game is about puck possession and sustaining pressure in the offensive zone. He's doing it differently now than he did with John LeClair in Philadelphia. While Fleury has the same size heart, he can't accomplish the same things physically. But Lindros has adjusted to Fleury's style and has begun to dominate.

Lindros is not solely responsible for the Rangers' improvement. There were other individual battles going on, with players like defensemen Bryan Berard and Vladimir Malakhov and goaltender Mike Richter coming back from injuries.

The Rangers' problem in recent years has been goals against. Last season, for example, no team allowed more goals than the Rangers. Coach Ron Low went crazy many times last year about their inability to play well inside their own blue line. And it wasn't just the defensemen. Low would curse up and down about his forwards' deficiencies inside the zone as well. But now, the back end is more organized and their puck possession is better.

Since the start of the season, Richter has been by far the Rangers' best player. He is not giving up any bad goals and is making spectacular saves, like the one he made against Montreal on Sunday night to save the game. Before Richter injured his knee last year, the Rangers would still lose if he made great saves because they played poorly inside their own zone. This season, though, his saves are starting to show off more because the team is winning.

One player who has made a difference on the back end is Berard, who -- considering his eye condition -- has been better than anybody had hoped for. Like Lindros, Berard had to find his game and do it quickly, given his eye limitations.

Malakhov has also made an impact. The Rangers would not have struggled nearly as much last season if Malakhov had been around to play 28-30 minutes a night. As much as he gets maligned for being inconsistent, he has talent, speed and size and knows how to move the puck. He is a great skater and thinker.

Combined with Igor Ulanov, who is tough and nasty and not fun to play against, Berard and Malakhov have helped take the pressure off Brian Leetch with their ability to move the puck out of the zone quickly. The Rangers are better in their own zone because they spend less time there.

Teams have to be strong down the middle, and the Rangers have excellent depth at center with Lindros, Mark Messier and Petr Nedved. York is playing on the wing, but he can also play center. Led by the top scoring line, they have scorers (Lindros, Fleury, Leetch, Nedved, York, Radek Dvorak and Messier); tough guys (Sandy McCarthy, Dale Purinton and Ulanov) and physical hitters (McCarthy, Purinton, Ulanov, Lindros, David Karpa and Tomas Kloucek).

Although the power play is only ranked 25th in the league, they have talent. Every power play needs a quarterback, and Leetch is one of the best ever. With Lindros and Fleury joining Leetch, the Rangers' power play will come around and start producing.

A bigger worry is penalty killing, the Rangers' Achilles' heel. For them to be a contending team, they must become better at killing penalties. For now they are ranked 29th in the league.

Despite their penalty-killing struggles, the Rangers are over .500 and are looking like a more well-rounded team than in the past. There is nothing like getting a few victories in a row to regain confidence. It's especially critical in New York, where the Rangers would routinely get pounded in the media when they underproduce, sending them on a negative, downward cycle.

Winning has been a welcomed change for the Rangers. And a big reason they have reversed their losing ways is that they have overcome a psychological barrier knowing Lindros is back playing at a high level again.

Brian Engblom is a hockey analyst for ESPN. He played 11 seasons in the NHL as a defenseman and won three Stanley Cups in six seasons with the Montreal Canadiens.