NEW YORK (AP) -- The second half of the season is looking much brighter for the New York Rangers.

Mired in the bottom third of the Eastern Conference standings for much of the season's first 41 games, the Rangers are showing some life.

	Rangers rookie Mike York celebrates Sunday after beating Atlanta's Norm Maracle for his 12th goal of the season.

John MacLean scored twice and added an assist Sunday in New York's 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.

The win, the Rangers' fourth in five games, came one day after they beat the New York Islanders. The Thrashers and Islanders are the NHL's two worst teams.

With 42 points, the Rangers are in a three-way tie with Carolina and Washington for the eighth and final playoff spot. New York plays Carolina at home Tuesday night.

"It's the second half and we have to make some hay and move up in the standings," MacLean said. "Each game is bigger than the next."

Rookie Mike York had his first goal in six games, then set up Adam Graves' power-play goal late in the first that gave New York a 4-1 lead.

MacLean scored his eighth and ninth goals for his second two-goal game of the season and 57th of his career.

The Rangers scored three times in the first 6:41 and coasted the rest of the way.

Jan Hlavac put New York ahead 1-0 after 41 seconds with his seventh goal. It was the second straight day that Hlavac scored in the first minute. He had two goals in the Rangers' 5-2 victory Saturday.

"Both games, the early lead goes a long way," said center Petr Nedved, who assisted on all three Hlavac goals the past two games. "For our team, it's big for us to get a lead early, especially today against a team that likes to trap."

MacLean made it 2-0 while the Rangers were short-handed. MacLean took a blind back pass from Tim Taylor and beat Norm Maracle at 5:58.

New York, which had gone the first 41 games without a short-handed goal, has two in the first two contests of the season's second half.

York scored 43 seconds after MacLean, and Maracle was replaced by Scott Fankhouser. Maracle, who beat Philadelphia 1-0 Friday night, had been replaced by Fankhouser the five previous games.

Maracle, who stopped only three Rangers shots, fell out of favor following a 6-0 loss to Nashville Dec. 30. That followed a poor performance against Philadelphia in which he was pulled and Fankhouser made his NHL debut.

"It was one of those games," Maracle said after talking with goalie coach Bob Mason for 15 minutes following the game. "I know this is a setback for me and the next time I get in there I have to be sharp."

The Thrashers got one back on Dean Sylvester's 12th goal with 6:24 left in the period. Sylvester took a shot that deflected off defenseman Kim Johnsson and past Mike Richter.

Richter made 26 saves and Fankhouser stopped 21 shots.

New York restored its three-goal lead on Graves' power-play goal with 1:54 left. York pounced on a rebound and was stopped twice by Fankhouser, but Graves poked in his 15th goal.

Graves, with 262 goals for the Rangers, tied Vic Hadfield for fourth place on New York's career list.

MacLean added another power-play goal with 7:12 gone in the third. Alexandre Daigle dropped a pass from the blue line to MacLean at the side of the net and his shot beat Fankhouser between his legs.

Just 4:21 later, Valeri Kamensky scored for the second straight game, making it 6-1, after an assist by MacLean. Before Saturday, Kamensky, hampered by injuries, had not scored since Oct. 19.

The Rangers, who struggled for much of the season with their power play, have scored at least one man-advantage goal in seven of nine games.

"Getting the power play going is a big thing that's going to win us some games," MacLean said.

Ed Ward scored his fifth goal and Andrew Brunette added his 17th for the Thrashers to close the scoring.