It seems that every time these teams meet, there are goals galore and they have now clocked up 20 between them in the last four games.
The visitors had dominated the opening 20 minutes with that man Kris Boyd opening the scoring with a supreme strike in the 11th minute.
A short ball from Steven Whittaker found the in-from striker who chested the ball down before spinning around Mihael Kovacevic and bulleting a low left-foot shot into the corner of the net.
And it was nearly 2-0 five minutes later when a horrendous kick out by Lukasz Zaluska was headed back into the danger area by Pedro Mendes where it was almost knocked into his own goal by Garry Kenneth.
But gradually United eased their way into the game and they should have scored on the half-hour mark when the totally unmarked Jon Daly headed down Craig Conway's corner but Allan McGregor did well to beat the ball away when it looked a certain goal.
While United were on the ascendancy, Kenny Miller was almost given a Christmas gift in the 41st minute when Lee Wilkie allowed the ball to bounce over his head and past his keeper.
With the race on, Miller almost bundled the ball over the line before the big defender hoofed it clear.
The second half opened with Daly almost scoring when he flicked on Conway's inviting cross. It was a sign of things to come as, in the 50th minute, the Terrors grabbed a deserved equaliser when Paul Dixon's deep cross found Wilkie who volleyed home from four yards.
And the Terrors took advantage of some dreadful Rangers defending four minutes later when another great cross from Dixon was headed down into the corner of the net by Warren Feeney.
However Rangers hit back well, and when substitute Nacho Novo got a break of the ball in the 76th minute, he laid it on for fellow sub Kyle Lafferty who slid his shot into the far corner from 12 yards out.
Chances continued to fall at both ends but neither team was able to convert for that all-important winner.