EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - A couple of days ago, the New Jersey Devils were in serious trouble. They weren't scoring or getting any breaks, and their chances of making the playoffs were fading.

A little more aggressiveness, a couple of breaks and some cooperation by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the form of a two-game losing streak has changed all that.

Dave Andreychuk scored a goal and set up two others in the first period, and the Devils improved their playoff chances with a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers yesterday.

Bill Guerin, John MacLean and Jason Smith also scored as the Devils (84 points) moved two points ahead of Tampa Bay in the fight for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. New Jersey has three games left, one less than the Lightning, who play the New York Islanders on Monday.

''We were talking about that before the game, that this game could be the one that puts us in the playoffs,'' Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said. ''We felt like that before the game, because if we lost and Tampa Bay won, we're two points behind with three to go, which is kind of hard.''

The win was the second in as many days for the Devils, who just a couple of days ago appeared on the verge of becoming the first team since the 1969-70 Montreal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup and then miss the playoffs the following season.

They dropped a 1-0 decision to Hartford on Thursday, which left them two points behind Tampa Bay. However, the Devils beat both Hartford and the Rangers this weekend and the Lightning lost to Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

''You could just tell that our intensity level was much better the last couple of games,'' said Andreychuk, who has four goals in the last four games. ''We seem to be wanting to get to the front of the net more. We're more aggressive on the forecheck. It's paid off. We're scoring some goals, and we're getting some breaks in front, too.''

Despite opening a 3-0 first-period lead, the Devils allowed the Rangers, who were playing without Mark Messier, to get back in the game in the second period. New York defenseman Doug Lidster scored on a slap shot just 16 seconds into the period, and Daniel Lacroix cut the margin to 3-2 with 3:17 left in the period.

''We scrambled and scraped to get back into the game, but in the third period we let them off the hook,'' Rangers coach Colin Campbell said.

New Jersey didn't give Martin Brodeur breathing room until Smith scored his second career goal at 7:10 of the final period, shortly after a penalty against the Rangers' Jeff Beukeboom expired.