NEWARK, NJ – As the Rangers negotiate an extension with Henrik Lundqvist, this is the type of game the goaltender will point to to gets his long term contract.

A 3-1 win in New Jersey, where the Devils outplayed the Rangers for most of the game.

“What can you say about Hank?” said Scott Gomez, who was booed unmercifully for the second time this season by the Devil fans. “That’s what we need. When a team’s all over you, especially at home, second game in two nights, your goalie is the most important guy. That’s Henrik Lundqvist at his best. He kept us in there.”

Stopping 33 shots, while only allowing one fortunate Devil goal to Zach Parise, Lundqvist made Tom Renney look like a genius, when the coach resting his No. 1 netminder the night before in Philadelphia, so he was kept fresh for the game in Newark.

“In that second period, Henrik made some really important saves for us - he made important saves throughout the game for us, naturally,” Renney said. “And that's what we hoped we'd get from him.

“Having played Steve last night and Henrik tonight, we thought that he'd be able to hold us in there if we had those moments - and we did - when we weren't good enough in front of him.”

Added Lundqvist: “I was excited for [Steve Valiquette] last night getting his first shutout. That’s big. I definitely wanted to come in here and play my best. I felt really good about my game in the first period. I faced a lot of shots and I managed to make the saves.”

Lundqvist’s ability to stop the Devils in their tracks, allowed the Rangers to take the lead four minutes into the game, when Brandon Dubinsky slapped a shot from point, which was deflected by Mike Mottau and past Marty Brodeur.

Brodeur, although sharp, wasn’t able to get some of the tougher saves and stopped 23 shots on the night.

He wasn’t able to stop Chris Drury, who scored just 2:06 into the second with Colin White in the box for slashing. Drury was able to knock the puck off Brodeur’s skate into the net.

It was a needed goal because Parise came back 3:42 later and reflected one off back of Lundqvist’s leg from behind the net to cut the lead in half.

“The back-to-back and the second period kind of set us back a bit,” said Drury, who scored an empty netter later on to ice the win. “We kind of had to regroup and catch our breath, regain momentum and really lock the third down. We just wanted to take shorter shifts, get fresh guys out there.”

They did. Playing the trap to perfection in the third, the Devils were not able to get the same chances as they had in the first periods and were limited to only five shots.

And Lundqvist was able to get his first road win in two months.

“I heard I hadn't won in a long time on the road,” said Lundqvist, whose last road win was in Ottawa on Dec. 1. “That was something I had in the back of my head. I know I have to play well moving forward. In the last couple weeks I think I'm playing better and better.”

Notes: Marek Malik sat out the game after injuring his knee in Philadelphia…Marcel Hossa was placed on injured reserve for a herniated disk in his back, although Renney said he is day to day…The Rangers won all five games this year against the Devils…The Rangers play Sunday at 2 p.m. in Montreal.