The slide continued Saturday afternoon. In the biggest game of the season with a chance to clinch the Atlantic Division, the Rangers were embarrassed by the Flyers 4-1 at Wachovia Center. It was their fourth consecutive loss with seemingly no end in sight to this freefall.

Suddenly just one point up on the Flyers with only one game remaining against Ottawa Tuesday, they no longer control the division. If the Flyers win at New Jersey later today and at the Islanders Tuesday night, they would win the Atlantic and earn home ice. There’s even a chance that the Devils could comeback to steal the division. If the surging Devils can win their 10th straight today, they would own the tiebreaker over the Flyers but also would need help from the Senators. The way the Blueshirts have played lately, it wouldn’t take much to beat them.

Outskated, outchecked and outworked from the first faceoff, the Rangers were lifeless. This two nights after Coach Tom Renney held a 20 minute closed door meeting after losing to the worst team in hockey, the Penguins. So much for coming out and making a statement.

“We did not attack the way we needed to,” Renney told the AP. “It started to get away from us when we fell behind. We didn’t put enough rubber at the net.”

Instead, they were overmatched by the Flyers in as uncompetitive a first period as you’ll see between two playoff teams. You wouldn’t have known it by the time the period had concluded with the Flyers ahead 2-0. How dominant were they? They outshot the Rangers 15-3 and outchanced them 12-0.

Ex-Blueshirt Mike Knuble struck again on the power play to give the Flyers the lead. When Thomas Pock’s clear was intercepted by Freddy Meyer IV, it became a two-on-one down low for Peter Forsberg and Knuble. Returning from a groin injury for the first time since a 3-2 shootout loss to the Rangers April 4, Forsberg showed no ill effects by sliding the puck through a sliding Fedor Tyutin’s skates to a wide open Knuble, who deposited his 34th at 8:09. Fast becoming a thorn in their side, it was his seventh goal against the Rangers this season.

With the Rangers unable to mount any kind of attack, the much sharper Flyers continued to dominate play. Playing defensively responsible in front of Antero Niittymaki who subbed for Robert Esche (flu), they didn’t allow Jaromir Jagr to get untracked. Checked tightly throughout by a combination of Michal Handzus and Denis Gauthier, Jagr was only able to register three shots and couldn’t create many chances.

While they kept Jagr off the board, the Flyers pounced on another Ranger mistake to move ahead by two. This time, the culprit was Sandis Ozolinsh. With him caught pinching at the blueline, Flyers rookie Jeff Carter quickly turned it into a two-on-one. When he slipped a pass across to Niko Dimitrakos for another slam dunk, it was 2-0 heading to the second.

It would only get worse when R.J. Umberger converted yet another two-on-one, tapping in another Carter feed to extend it to 3-0 at 5:44. The rout was on 3:54 later when former Ranger Petr Nedved took a Handzus pass off another odd-man rush and wristed one through Kevin Weekes to make it 4-0. Amazingly, Renney never even bothered to use his timeout. This also might explain why he opted to move Michael Nylander down to the second line while moving up Petr Sykora to the top line. A top line which destroyed the Flyers the first seven games.

Trailing by four, the Blueshirts finally got on the board when Marcel Hossa stuffed in a PP goal at 11:38 for his second in two games.

They nearly cut it to two but Sykora was stoned by Niittymaki on a breakaway. Niittymaki would shine stopping 22 of 23 Ranger shots the final two periods to earn the win.

“It was a must win for us,” said Tom Poti. “We really wanted it bad. “We really didn’t play like it.”

Notes: Making his seventh straight start for Henrik Lundqvist (hip flexor), Weekes finished with 25 saves. It was the first time in five starts he lost to the Flyers in regulation this season. … Lundqvist is expected to get the final start of the season at home for Rangers (44-25-12, 100 pts) Tuesday against the Senators (51-21-9, 111 pts). … Defenseman Marek Malik returned to the lineup after missing two games due to an upper body injury. … Darius Kasparaitis (groin) and Steve Rucchin (ankle) remained out.

Brian Gionta has been the Devils money man all season. That continued when he notched a clutch power play goal 28 seconds into overtime to help New Jersey defeat Carolina 4-3 at the RBC Center Tuesday night. The goal was his 10th game winner of the season, tying him with San Jose’s Jonathan Cheechoo for the league lead.

The win was the Devils’ eighth straight and assured them of qualifying for their ninth consecutive postseason.

“I tell you what, if there is any team we’ve had that deserves to get into the playoffs, and we’ve had some great ones, (it’s) this team,” Devils Coach Lou Lamoriello told the AP. “The way they responded in the whole second half of the season and overcame so many little things.”

That included Patrik Elias missing significant time due to Hepatitis A and Larry Robinson resigning as coach in December due to stress. It also included franchise goalie Martin Brodeur missing time due to a knee injury and then returning early to play through it before returning to form.

Still, these Devils persevered despite these distractions along with some unusual peaks and valleys, which made it uncertain they would reach this point.

“We knew time was on our side when there were disappointing times,” Brodeur said after his 37 stops allowed him to become the first NHL goalie to win 40 games five different seasons. “But we’ve turned it around and this was really rewarding.”

“It took awhile,” Gomez said. “A lot of people kind of counted us out at the beginning. It took us a little longer than we wanted, but it’s an honor to make the playoffs.”

In a wild game which swung back and forth, Jamie Langenbrunner put them ahead for the third time when he connected on the power play with 4:27 left. Off a turnover forced by Gionta, Elias fed a vacated Langenbrunner in the slot, who fired his 17th past Martin Gerber.

But with under a minute left and the Devils on the power play, the shorthanded Hurricanes drew even when Erik Staal stuffed in his own rebound past Brodeur with 46 seconds remaining in regulation. Needing to score down a man, Carolina pulled Gerber for an extra attacker. After some hard work by Rod Brind’Amour and Bret Hedican along the boards, Staal tied it with his 45th to force OT.

It didn’t take long though for the Devils to end it. Still on the power play, Elias worked the puck to Gomez, who fired a slapper which Gionta redirected inside the post for his team-leading 45th goal. It pulled him within one of Pat Verbeek’s Devils record of 46 set back in 1987-88. He has three games left to try to shatter it.

While the Devils’ most clutch mighty mite aims at history, the team is hot on the trail of the archrival Flyers, who held onto fifth place in the East with a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh. With 97 points, they lead the Devils by two points, which sets the stage perfectly. The Devils will host the Flyers back-to-back times three days apart starting Thursday night.

The Flyers have one game at hand but if the Devils can sweep that series, they could pass them. One thing is certain. It should be intense.

Notes: With a goal and assist, Gionta extended his career best point streak to 12 straight. During that span, he has nine goals and eight assists for 17 points. … John Madden and Grant Marshall each had a goal and assist. … Defenseman Richard Matvichuk sat out due to a groin injury. Rookie David Hale skated in his place. … Viktor Kozlov returned to the lineup replacing Cam Janssen. … Carolina is now 30-7-2 at home. Combined with Ottawa’s 3-2 OT win over Boston, they dropped a point behind the Senators for first in the East. … Devils (43-27-9, 95 pts) host Flyers (43-24-11, 97 pts) Thursday and Sunday before finishing up at Montreal next Tuesday.

If this was a precursor to a first round playoff series against the archrival Rangers, score one for the Devils, who fought back to win their seventh game in a row 3-2 at a capacity Continental Airlines Arena Sunday night. Their second consecutive win over the Rangers earned them a split of the season series and could setup a potential long opening round series when the playoffs begin in less than two weeks.

That’s if they actually meet up. With four games left, the Devils have 93 points and trail the Flyers by two for fifth in the East. The Flyers have one game at hand but play the Devils twice later this week at CAA. Ultimately, that should decide who the Devils play in the first round.

The battlelines were drawn less than two minutes in when Rangers left wing Ryan Hollweg flattened Sergei Brylin with a clean shoulder hit knocking him into the glass and down to the ice. Shaken up, a bloody Brylin was helped back to the locker room by Devils trainer Bill Murray. Several minutes after Jamie Langenbrunner and Hollweg served roughing minors for that spill, the Devils senior forward returned to score the game’s first goal.

With Fedor Tyutin and Marek Malik serving penalties 59 seconds apart, the Devils couldn’t take advantage right away. But with time winding down on Malik’s minor, revenge was served when Brylin redirected a Paul Martin point shot past Kevin Weekes at 13:46 to give the Devils the lead. He was credited with his 14th from Martin and Zach Parise on what looked like a double deflection, which might have gone off Erik Rasmussen in front.

In a period in which they were outshot 10-9, the Devils kept Jaromir Jagr in check during the first with an effective shadow job by Jay Pandolfo.

When Hollweg was whistled for a boarding major in which he left his feet to make a hit on Brian Rafalski early in the second, the Devils had a golden opportunity to increase their lead. But led by Weekes, the Rangers penalty killing unit thwarted them to turn the tide. Weekes closed the door on Brian Gionta and later denied Scott Gomez.

Gaining momentum from the effective kill, the Rangers drew even thanks to Blair Betts. Forechecking aggressively, Jason Ward picked up a Colin White clearing attempt and fed an isolated Betts, who ripped the puck past Martin Brodeur’s glove inside the post to tie it at 13:54.

A shift later, White would take a boarding penalty on Martin Straka which would lead to further trouble. When Jagr setup Sandis Ozolinsh in front for a power play goal, the Rangers suddenly led 2-1 with 4:14 left.

The Devils continued to struggle when Gionta was whistled for hooking Jagr. But a stronger kill allowed them to get out of the period without further damage.

Though they carried the play in the third, the Devils almost fell behind by two. But Straka’s left wing drive sailed harmlessly off the post with 11:55 remaining. It would prove pivotal a few minutes later when Gomez scored a highlight reel goal to tie it. Taking the puck from Rafalski inside his own blueline, he skated end-to-end through the entire Ranger D and beat Weekes with a backhand upstairs to send CAA to its feet with 8:27 left.

“I got a little lucky,” Gomez told the AP. “I just found a hole and I took it.”

Gomez’ 31st goal sparked the Devils. When Straka was called for a hook on Patrik Elias, the Devils made him pay by connecting for the second time on the man-advantage.

On a play behind the net, Langenbrunner outmuscled a Ranger for the puck and fed Gionta on the doorstep for his team-leading 44th goal to put the Devils ahead 3-2 with 6:48 to go. “It was a short-side play.” Gionta said. “Langenbrunner found me in front.”

With four games remaining, Gionta needs two more to match Pat Verbeek’s Devils record of 46 set back in 1987-88.

After denying the Rangers on a PP, they sealed the game by drawing two late penalties to end any doubt. The question is did they put any doubt in the Rangers minds?

Notes: The sellout was the fourth of the season for the Devils with two coming against the Rangers. … Looking to match a career best with a fourth straight win, Weekes made 23 saves but ultimately fell short. … With 24 stops, Brodeur notched his 39th win of the season. One more would extend his NHL record of 40-or-more to eight consecutive seasons. … Devils defenseman Richard Matvichuk did not return for the third. His status is unknown. … Rangers skated without Henrik Lundqvist (hip flexor), Tom Poti (upper body injury), Darius Kasparaitis (groin), Steve Rucchin (ankle) and Martin Rucinsky (finger). … Devils (42-27-9, 93 pts) are at Carolina (51-21-6, 108 pts) Tuesday before hosting the Flyers in back-to-back games Thursday and Sunday.

It wasn’t pretty. But the Devils will take it. Patrik Elias’ first hat trick of the season helped lift New Jersey to its fifth straight win- a 6-4 triumph over Pittsburgh to sweep the home-and-home series. The victory gave the Devils 89 points, good for sole possession of sixth place in the East with six games remaining. They lead the seventh place Canadiens by two points but will play them twice up in Montreal to help decide where they finish. The Devils lead the season series 2-0, taking the first two games at home.

If they keep winning, there’s still enough time to catch the fourth place Flyers, who are four points ahead of them. The Devils do have two games left against their Turnpike rivals which could prove vital. Each has taken three games thus far.

Elias’ big night came on the heels of scoring a clutch redirection goal late to force overtime in their comeback 3-2 win at Pittsburgh Sunday. He also collected two assists to go with his three-goal outburst (11, 12, 13) for a five point night.

In order for the Devils to go far in the playoffs, they need their most accomplished forward to have more nights like this and take pressure off leading scorer Brian Gionta. Maybe Elias is getting hot at the right time.

“You obviously want to do well,” Elias told the AP. “You want to score and you want to help the team. The main thing is to stay positive. It’s hard. It’s not easy.”

While Elias was making Marc Andre-Fleury’s life miserable, an equally as big a reason for it was Scott Gomez, who continues to play well in what is now a career season. With a goal and three assists, he passed his previous career high of 70 points set both in his rookie season (’99-00) and ‘03-04. For the season, Gomez now has career bests in goals (28) and points (73). The four points in the win gave him 14 in his last eight games.

“Patty took over right from the get-go,” Gomez said. “We need that. That’s his job. He’s a goal scorer. He’s had tons of chances in recent games. When he got that first one, you could tell he was on a roll.”

It didn’t start well early. On the game’s opening shift, rookie Sidney Crosby beat Martin Brodeur only 27 seconds in for his 35th with a quick wrist shot between the pads. It was the only lead the Pens had and wouldn’t last long.

Elias scored his first of the night 2:51 later when he deflected a Gomez pass past Fleury for a power play goal to tie it. The dynamic duo were just getting warmed up. Less than four minutes later during a four-on-four, Elias redirected another Gomez pass for his second of the night at 7:07. But in a helter skelter period by Devil standards in which each team traded chances, Andy Hilbert’s wrister through a screen tied it with 47 seconds left.

In the second though, the Devils scored three unanswered to retake command. Improving rookie Zach Parise was credited with his 12th when his centering feed deflected off Eric Cairns’ stick into the net at 2:55. He has three points in his last four games.

Gomez doubled the margin to 4-2 5:16 later when he took an Elias feed and ripped one upstairs for the Devils’ second PPG of the night. Elias would pickup his seventh career hat trick when he took a Sergei Brylin pass and roofed a shot over Fleury inside the crossbar at 12:45. Things were going so well that Brodeur was credited with a secondary assist.

Hilbert cut it to 5-3 on a turnaround wrister for his second of the night at 17:22.

In the third, the Devils converted their third PPG of the game when Brian Rafalski one-timed an Elias pass past Fleury to cash a five-on-three. It was Elias’ fifth point of the night.

Jani Rita concluded the scoring for Pittsburgh.

Notes: With Atlanta winning 5-2 over Florida, Devils magic number is six to clinch their ninth consecutive postseason. The ninth place Thrashers have 80 points and seven games remaining. … Elias’ seventh hat trick allowed him to pass John MacLean for the most by a Devil. … With 25 saves, Brodeur reached 40 wins for an NHL record ninth straight season. … Defenseman Paul Martin left the game after the second with flu-like symptoms. … Rafalski finished with a goal and two assists. … Devils (40-27-9, 89 pts) are at Montreal (39-27-9, 87 pts) Saturday night before returning home Sunday to host the Rangers.

The drought is over. Nine years and eight seasons later, the Rangers are finally back in the playoffs. They did it by edging the archrival Flyers 3-2 in a shootout before an energized capacity Madison Square Garden crowd Tuesday night. Amazingly enough, it was the first time the home team prevailed in the first seven meetings.

They can thank Kevin Weekes, who celebrated his 31st birthday in style by picking up his third win in four starts against the Flyers. With Henrik Lundqvist day-to-day with a hip flexor suffered at Monday’s practice, the Toronto native was called upon to get the the team’s biggest win of the season.

Entering play with eight games remaining, they held a slim two point lead over the Flyers for the Atlantic Division. Looking to secure home ice, they battled tooth and nail with Philadelphia in a game worthy of the postseason to pull three points ahead with seven left.

Making his second home start in eight days, Weekes was stellar throughout making 21 saves, turning boos to cheers and even chants by the end of the night en route to being named the game’s First Star.

With the Flyers ahead 2-1 on the strength of second period goals by Mike Knuble and Simon Gagne, the Blueshirts battled back to tie it just 5:34 into the third. Off a faceoff win, Martin Straka rebounded a Michael Nylander shot to knot it.

That’s when Weekes stepped up and made two huge saves to prevent the Flyers from retaking the lead. Less than a minute after getting help from the crossbar on a Joni Pitkanen drive, Weekes made one of the best stops of the season by robbing Flyer rookie Jeff Carter on a breakaway. Carter broke in from center ice and went to the backhand but a sprawling Weekes pokechecked it away at the last split second, earning chants of “Weekes, Weekes, Weekes,” from the crowd.

The heroics continued when he stoned Sami Kapanen’s shorthanded bid with less than eight minutes left, drawing more support than he’s had most of the season on home ice.

“He was outstanding,” Nylander told the AP. “He made some unbelievable saves in some critical times. It was great to see.”

While their goalie was making clutch stops, the Blueshirts pressed for the win late when Jed Ortmeyer drew a Derian Hatcher elbowing penalty with only 4:13 remaining. But they couldn’t beat Robert Esche, who was splendid all night in making 38 saves including 17 of 18 in a busy third. In particular, Esche got the better of Jaromir Jagr, denying all 12 shots the NHL’s leading scorer fired his way. Having already stoned him on two breakaways, Esche made a huge stick save to prevent Jagr from setting a new Rangers franchise record for goals. With 52 goals, Jagr came in tied with Adam Graves but hasn’t scored in the last three since tying the mark against Buffalo last Monday. Esche turned aside all seven third period shots Jagr took.

Unable to convert their seventh power play, the Rangers went to overtime against the Flyers for the fourth time in seven meetings this season. It was the third time they needed OT at MSG. Having dropped the last two that went there and with so much at stake, they controlled play by outshooting the Flyers 4-1. Still unable to solve Esche, they needed a shootout to finally salt away their fourth win against the Flyers in the season series with one crucial game left at Wachovia Center April 15th.

Just as dramatic, they put an exclamation point on their first postseason berth since 1997. Already assured of getting in by virtue of their one point earned after regulation and OT, they opted not to back in. After Simon Gagne beat Weekes on a nifty backhand deke, Nylander tied it through Esche’s waffle setting the stage for an exciting finish. After Weekes calmly stuffed Peter Forsberg’s backhand try, Petr Sykora’s wicked wrister top shelf put them on the brink. Needing to make one more save, Weekes outwaited Michal Handzus to seal the win.

Immediately mobbed by teammates, it was his first victory at MSG since November 19. Long overdue for a goalie who exemplifies what this team is about.

“The fans have supported our team all year long and fallen in love with some of our players, certainly my partner Henrik, and that’s fine,” Weekes pointed out. “When they cheer us on, we feed off their positivism.”

That kind of support has propelled them to a 24-8-6 record on home ice.

Before the season, the Rangers were picked by many to finish near the bottom of the league, including 30th by Sports Illustrated. Few realized how much character and team chemistry this team had. Put together by GM Glen Sather, Assistant GM Don Maloney and Jack Adams candidate Coach Tom Renney, they proved all the doubters wrong.

“This isn’t the only goal we have, but it’s certainly part of it,” Sather said, keeping things in perspective.

“We’re speaking kind of casually now that we did clinch a playoff berth, but when you stop and think about what that means and how that looked in August and how that looked in September … to now be in this position it’s very gratifying,” said Weekes.

There are plenty of Ranger fans who would agree after how long it took them to get back.

Notes: With Lundqvist resting due to a hip flexor, Rangers recalled Al Montoya from Hartford to backup Weekes. … Defenseman Darius Kasparaitis sat out his second straight game due to a sore groin. … With 12 shots, Jagr broke Phil Esposito’s Ranger season record of 344 shots-on-goal set back in 1976-77. Jagr now has 345 for the season. … With an assist on a Nylander goal which opened the scoring in the first, Jagr extended his point streak to 12 straight. He leads the league with 115 points. … With his 20th goal of the season, Nylander has points in a career high 11 straight. … Rangers (42-21-12, 96 pts) host the Islanders (33-36-5, 71 pts) Thursday night.