Rangers Strengthen Playoff Position With Rout of Devils All systems are go entering the playoffs for the surging Rangers, who these days are looking a lot more like last year's supremely competent team than the bumbling outfit they were for two-thirds of this season. On Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, they won their season finale in easy fashion, beating a dispirited Devils side, 4-0. Ryan Callahan, whose overtime goal clinched the Rangers a playoff spot in Carolina on Thursday, scored, as did Derek Stepan. Rick Nash added two goals. Henrik Lundqvist, making his 14th consecutive start and his 43rd of the 48-game season, stopped 20 shots for his second shutout of the season. The victory was useful, ensuring that the Rangers would finish in either seventh or sixth place, pending results later Saturday and on Sunday. That meant they avoided finishing eighth and having to play a series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won the Eastern Conference in a runaway. The Rangers will finish sixth if the Ottawa Senators earn two points or less from their final two games Saturday night at home against Philadelphia and Sunday night at Boston. They will finish seventh if the Senators earn points or more points from those games. A sixth-place finish means the Rangers will face the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, starting Tuesday or Wednesday. A seventh-place finish means the Rangers will face either the Boston Bruins or the Montreal Canadiens. Stepan opened the scoring just 2 minutes 37 seconds into the game, his 18th goal of the season. Callahan made a great spin move behind the net and centered in front to Stepan, whose one-time shot was unstoppable. Late in the first period, Stepan turned provider during a penalty kill. He intercepted a pass at center ice from Devils defenseman Marek Zidlicky, drew Zidlicky to him and sent Callahan in alone on a breakaway. Callahan slipped the puck through the legs of Devils goalie Johan Hedberg with 59 seconds left for his 16th goal. Since April 1, when Callahan and Stepan were united on the same line, they have sparked an offensive revival for the Rangers, a team that, until then, had the weakest attack in Eastern Conference. In those 14 games, Stepan has scored 8 goals and 11 assists for 19 points, Callahan 7 goals and 9 assists for 16 points. The Rangers, meanwhile, went 10-3-1, a strong finish to salvage what was looking like a lost season. Instead of missing the playoffs as a follow-up to 2011-12, when they finished first in the East and reached the conference finals, they enter this postseason as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. For the Devils it was a lost season, sealed when the Rangers eliminated them from playoff contention with a 4-1 defeat at the Garden last Sunday. After reaching the Stanley Cup finals last year, their captain, Zach Parise, departed to Minnesota through free agency. Injuries to Ilya Kovalchuk and Martin Brodeur helped scuttle their chances for good. Now they face an off-season in which they must decide whether to re-sign their longtime star forward, Patrik Elias, who becomes a free agent on July 1. With the Devils playing a meaningless game Saturday, Coach Peter DeBoer used Hedberg in the nets, meaning that the 40-year-old future Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur sat on the bench. The last time Brodeur served as a backup goalie at the Garden was Dec. 5, 1993, in his first full season in the N.H.L. Rangers fans, who normally taunt Brodeur incessantly, still found a way to mock him despite his absence from the crease. They chanted "We want Marty" after each goal Hedberg allowed. Nash scored twice, the first off a setup from Brad Richards, the second off one from Mats Zuccarello. Nash finished with 21 goals, the team high. Even though the Rangers were loose and happy after clinching a playoff spot Thursday, Coach John Tortorella did not rest his top players, most notably Lundqvist. "He's fine - you guys talk about him being tired," Tortorella said about giving Lundqvist the start over Martin Biron. He's fine, and I want to keep progressing as a team. Kris Newbury replaced Ryane Clowe at forward for the Rangers. Clowe was helped to the dressing room during Thursday's game at Carolina with an injury the Rangers still have not disclosed. He seemed to stumble on a play in the second period during that game, then was inadvertently elbowed in the head as he fell by Hurricanes defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti. Because of the way Clowe was helped off, the speculation was that he had a leg or knee injury, or a concussion, or perhaps both. Clowe had a concussion last season while he was with San Jose. Forward Arron Asham was back in the lineup after missing Thursday's game because his wife was having a baby.