EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The only thing the New Jersey Devils need to either pick up a couple of points or to break a slump is a game with the New York Rangers.

	New Jersey's Claude Lemieux, left, upends Rangers goaltender Mike Richter while crashing into the net.

The Devils extended their unbeaten streak against their cross-river rivals to 15 games as Vadim Sharifijanov, Randy McKay and Petr Sykora scored first-period goals for a 3-2 win Wednesday night.

"It is bizarre, you know, for that one team," Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said of the streak. "It's such a big rivalry, it shows you how much we get prepared for them. You just want to make sure we play them. For us, guys will tell you, it's tough. There are a lot of Rangers fans out there, and they are not even doing well."

Brodeur only faced 13 shots, with rookie defenseman Kim Johnsson scoring both Rangers goals on shots from the point that Brodeur never saw.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Devils and extended their unbeaten streak at home this season to 11 games (9-0-2).

New Jersey is now 11-0-4 since losing 3-0 to the Rangers on Jan. 12, 1997.

"Every time we play them, it's just different around the locker room, everyone is more focused," Devils forward Patrik Elias said. "I think we are very confident to play against those guys and we are showing it on the ice."

The Rangers had a couple of chances to tie the game in the third period, with Brodeur making a glove save on former Devil John MacLean and Mike Knuble missing the net on a shot in close.

Brodeur, who scored a goal against Montreal in the playoffs two years ago, just missed an empty-netter with 42.7 seconds to go.

"When it left my stick, it was looking pretty good," said Brodeur, who raised his arms in the air after firing the puck. "It just took a bad bounce. It was unfortunate."

The loss was the fifth in six games for the Rangers and it probably will put more pressure on general manager Neil Smith to fire John Muckler as coach.

"It's not a lack of talent or character on this team," Rangers acting captain Adam Graves said of the team that has a league-record $60 million payroll. "It's a lack of execution right now, all of us collectively."

The Devils looked like they were going to run away with this one in the first period, opening a 3-0 lead after 16:55.

Sharifijanov needed only 2:29 to score, taking a pass in the slot from Scott Gomez and beating Mike Richter up high.

McKay got his sixth a little less than five minutes later in a goal-mouth scramble during which Richter almost made a barehanded save.

"The Devils just came off a road trip and they were ripe for us to jump on," Richter said, after wasting a 31-save effort and seeing his record drop to 3-11-3. "It didn't happen. They attacked early and hemmed us in our zone."

A faceoff win and nice passes by Scott Niedermayer and Elias set up a basically empty-net goal by Sykora.

While the Rangers only had eight shots in the first two periods, Johnsson made both of his count.

His shot from the left point with 2:03 left in the first period got by Brodeur to cut the lead to 3-1. A faceoff win by Petr Nedved set up the Swedish rookie's third goal in two games and fourth of the season.

Richter kept the Rangers in the game in the second period, stopping two great scoring chances by Elias, one by Sykora and a short-handed breakaway by Jay Pandolfo.