NEW YORK -- Less than 24 hours after a dreadful start and worse finish cost the New York Rangers an opportunity for a win or even a point, they responded with a strong 60 minutes against a divisional rival.

Mats Zuccarello scored twice and Henrik Lundqvist turned aside 26 shots as the Rangers thumped the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers fell behind the Washington Capitals 2-0 on Friday night and pulled even before two late goals sent New York home empty-handed. Coach Alain Vigneault decided to use Henrik Lundqvist for a second straight game, and the Rangers seemed to respond.

"This is what we needed," Lundqvist said. "That's a good part about this league; when you lose a game, you have not a lot of time to walk around and think about it. We played really well. This was one of our better games as of late. Good speed, good energy, created a lot of big chances.

"We scored at the right time to grab momentum of the game. Overall, it was a strong game."

There was no slow start Saturday, as the Rangers pounced for a Jimmy Vesey goal during a dominant first period. Then Jesper Fast padded the lead early in the second period off another Devils turnover.

The Rangers held a 25-16 shot advantage after the first two periods while handling the Devils' speed with relative ease.

"We were definitely ready tonight," said the Rangers' Rick Nash, who had two assists. "It was tough to give up points in Washington when you have a tie game against a very good team with a few minutes left, but it was a good bounce-back."

Zuccarello was already a hero before he scored his goals. With the Rangers leading 1-0 in the first period, the Devils' Brian Gibbons fired a shot that squeezed through Lundqvist's legs and was rolling toward the open net, but Zuccarello reached it before it could cross the line.

Although Zuccarello wasn't so sure he was that big of a hero, considering he immediately turned the puck over and forced Lundqvist to make another save.

"Hankie was good there," Zuccarello said. "He saved me. I don't know if it would've gotten it or not, but I was just there."

The Devils cut the lead to 2-1 in the second period on a goal from Damon Severson, who was later the culprit on the first of Zuccarello's goals.

With a Devils power play just about to expire, Zuccarello stripped Severson of the puck and took off on a breakaway. Zuccarello skated in alone and beat Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid (34 saves) to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead when the game was still within reach for the Devils.

"He's got a great shot and great release," Kinkaid said. "The play should never have happened."

Zuccarello scored again 6:21 into the third period to give the Rangers a three-goal lead, although Miles Wood answered 13 seconds later to give the Devils some fleeting hope.

But Kevin Hayes put the game to rest with 7:01 remaining to finish the scoring on a night when Kinkaid was under siege from start to finish.

"We play soft and loose, you have no chance to win," Devils coach John Hynes said. "That was tonight's game. We were soft all over the ice, too many soft individuals."

The Rangers finished this key four-game stretch against Metropolitan teams 3-1-0 but still find themselves outside of the playoff picture thanks to a 2-6-2 start. But in the ultra-competitive division, only five points separate first-place Columbus with the sixth-place Rangers, who haven't lost consecutive games in nearly a month.

"Everybody knew we were playing four divisional games, so that part was important," Vigneault said. "Now we have to recover. We've played two back-to-backs here and now we're playing (at home against Dallas) on Monday. We need to get some rest and focus on that."

NOTES: Devils LW Pavel Zacha was back in the lineup for the first time since Dec. 1. ... Devils RW Drew Stafford, who hasn't registered a point in his past 11 games, was a healthy scratch. ... Rangers C Mika Zibanejad (concussion) missed his fifth straight game. Coach Alain Vigneault said Zibanejad has been skating, but there is still no timetable for his return. ... This marked the 10th time brothers Devils RW Jimmy Hayes and Rangers C Kevin Hayes played against each other in the NHL.