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The New York Rangers' late playoff push got a boost with a decisive win over one local rival.
Beating another may continue to give it some legitimacy.
Still well outside the postseason bubble and with a long road to get there, the Rangers on Thursday night travel to meet the New Jersey Devils for the final time in the regular season.
The Rangers snapped a three-game skid with a 5-0 victory at Madison Square Garden over the last-place Islanders on Wednesday, and moved alone into 10th place in the East with 73 points - two points behind ninth-place Atlanta and five in back of Boston for the conference's final berth.
"We just have to focus on carrying this game over. We're still alive and we believe," said Marian Gaborik, who had two goals and an assist, giving him six points in his last three games.
New York (32-32-9) and Atlanta each have nine games to play, one fewer than Boston. The Rangers, who are kicking off a season-high six-game road trip, have no games remaining with the Thrashers or Bruins.
"It's going to be more difficult (Thursday). No offense to the Islanders, but the New Jersey Devils are a better hockey club," said Rangers head coach John Tortorella.
Besides Gaborik, who needs one goal to reach 40 for the second time in his career, the Rangers' road to the postseason will be considerably smoother with a confident Henrik Lundqvist in goal. He stopped 26 shots against the Islanders for his third shutout of the season and first since beating New Jersey 1-0 in a shootout Jan. 12.
"When you get a win like this, you start to feel it again,'' said Lundqvist, who's allowed seven goals while splitting two games this season in New Jersey. "It's been a while since we have had this feeling. The only thing we can do right now is continue to battle and fight.''
That's what the Devils have been doing as they're all but assured a 13th straight playoff appearance.
After being limited to a total of one goal in consecutive losses, New Jersey (43-25-4) scored four in the second period of a 6-3 win over Columbus on Tuesday. Travis Zajac had two goals and Ilya Kovalchuk chipped in with a goal and two assists in the middle frame.
Perhaps a bigger relief to the Devils, though, was their resurgent power play unit, which went 3 for 6 after having gone 0 for 17 over the previous six games.
"We had been making progress and we practiced it a lot,'' said Zach Parise, who scored one of his two goals on the power play. ``It was getting better and better and tonight it finally came through.''
Parise has scored three of his team-leading 35 goals this season against the Rangers.
The offensive outburst Tuesday was more than enough for Martin Brodeur to notch his eighth 40-win season, leaving the all-time victories leader three short of 600 for his career.
"I've thought about it," he told the Devils' official Web site. "I know there's lots of games left to be able to do it. Hopefully it will happen; eventually, it should happen."
Brodeur defeated the Rangers 6-3 on March 10 at the Prudential Center, but is 2-3-1 with a 2.45 goals-against average in his last six home games versus New York.
The idle Devils dropped one point behind first-place Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division when the Penguins gained a point with a 4-3 shootout loss to Washington on Wednesday. New Jersey has played two fewer games than the defending Stanley Cup champions, and will not face them again in the regular season.
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