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Devils aim to stay hot against Rangers

Feb 3, 2011 - 3:41 PM (Sports Network) - The New Jersey Devils will try to keep rolling in the right direction tonight, when they visit the New York Rangers for an Atlantic Division clash at Madison Square Garden.

The Devils have been playing their best hockey of the season in recent weeks, winning five of six and recording a 7-1-1 record in their last nine outings. New Jersey is still last in the NHL with just 37 points on the year, but the Devils are now just one point behind Edmonton and two in back of the division rival New York Islanders.

New Jersey won its first game after the All-Star break on Tuesday, edging the visiting Ottawa Senators by a 2-1 count. Dainius Zubrus scored the game- winning goal in the latter stages of the third period to lift the Devils to just their 17th win in 50 games this season.

Nick Palmieri also scored for the Devils and Martin Brodeur finished with 15 saves in the victory.

"We've created some momentum, and now we need to keep playing well," said Brodeur, who has a superb 2.09 goals-against average in 87 career games against the Rangers.

The Devils are just 7-17-1 as the visiting team this season, but have three wins in their last five games away from the Garden State.

New Jersey has lost all three games to the rival Rangers this season and New York has held the Devils to a total of two goals in those meetings. Overall, the Rangers have taken four straight and five out of six in the series and the Devils have lost eight of their last 11 in the Big Apple.

The Rangers, who are 12-11-3 at MSG this year, were dealt a home shootout loss by Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Dustin Jeffrey scored the only goal of the shootout in the seventh round to lift the Penguins to the 4-3 decision.

"I thought we struggled a bit with their speed through the neutral zone," said Rangers head coach John Tortorella. "They have a defensive game in transition, and that's where I thought we struggled through a lot of the game."

Ryan Callahan returned to action after missing time since mid-December with a broken hand and scored a goal for the Rangers, who are winless (0-1-1) in the first two contests of a three-game homestand that is set to end tonight.

Brandon Prust and Artem Anisimov also tallied for New York and Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 23 shots. Lundqvist has a 21-7-5 record and 1.81 GAA in 33 career games against the Devils.

After getting Callahan back on Tuesday, the Rangers are expected to have winger Vinny Prospal in the lineup for the first time this season. Prospal, who had 20 goals and 58 points for New York in 2009-10, underwent surgery to repair his right knee in the offseason and has missed his club's first 53 games of the season.

However, the Rangers announced on Wednesday that forward Ruslan Fedotenko is expected to miss three weeks following an appendectomy. Fedotenko, who had missed New York's last five games with a separated shoulder, has nine goals and 19 points in his first season with the Rangers.

New York has 62 points on the year and enters tonight as the third-place team in the Atlantic Division and the seventh seed in the East.