Tom Renney's breaking point came 40 minutes into a sluggish game against the New Jersey Devils.

The coach of the New York Rangers had seen enough, and he let his team know it in-between periods.

"Well, it wasn't musical," Renney said after New York turned a two-goal deficit into a 3-2 victory against the Devils last night. "This year, that was maybe as passionate as I've been."

Jaromir Jagr scored two goals 26 seconds apart early in the third period and Brendan Shanahan finished off a most improbable rally a little more than minute later to help the host Rangers snap the Devils' season-high, four-game winning streak.

"Everyone knew we didn't play well," Jagr said of the first two periods. "Speeches are useless unless you go out and do it."

This rousing rant did the trick.

A 2-0 Devils lead was erased in a 1:30 span, leaving goalie Martin Brodeur hanging his head and Rangers fans derisively chanting "Mar-ty Mar-ty."

Henrik Lundqvist withstood New Jersey's late pressure and finished with 20 saves to give the Rangers their first home victory since defeating the Devils Oct. 16. They are 5-1-1 in their last seven overall.

The Rangers, who blew the Atlantic Division title to New Jersey on the final day of last season, moved into a first-place tie with the Devils.

"There comes a time as a coach where you've got to conjure up the proper emotion to go out there and tackle the task at hand," Renney said. "We weren't being proactive with respect to putting them on their heels. We proposed that they may want to do that. I think it's a turning point in our season."

Last night's highlights

Yanic Perreault and Oleg Saprykin each scored two goals to lead the host Phoenix Coyotes past the Minnesota Wild, 4-3.

Notes

Flyers center Peter Forsberg could return to the lineup today against Anaheim after missing two games with a sprained right ankle. Forsberg, who can be a free agent at the end of the season, has struggled to find an answer to the skate problem that's causing discomfort to his surgically repaired right ankle. Also, Flyers defenseman Denis Gauthier had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder and was expected to miss 10 weeks. ... Oilers star forward Ryan Smyth will be re-evaluated today after suffering a charley horse in a game Monday night against Colorado.