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Just call it sweet redemption. Three nights after helplessly seeing John Madden’s centering pass go off his skate before he could react which got the Devils back in the series, Ranger rookie defenseman Marc Staal struck late in more conventional fashion burning the Hudson rival in an entertaining 5-3 Game Four victory before a loud Garden last night.

As fellow Devil blogger Hasan already stated, three times a desperate Devil club cameback to tie this topsy turvy game. When one-time Ranger Mike Mottau made a nifty move and fired past a stickless Henrik Lundqvist 4:37 into the third, the game was again up for grabs tied at three.

At that point, I had plenty of doubts watching this unpredictable contest. How many times could the Rangers establish a lead before falling flat? Would the Devils finally make them pay for not putting them away? They came close a couple of times following Mottau’s goal. First, Paul Martin went through two Rangers like the parting of the Red Sea and walked in on a shaky Lundqvist but the Ranger netminder foiled his attempt. Next it was Madden’s turn as he found another hole to get off a backhand a few feet away but Lundqvist shut the door.

For as scary as the third-year Ranger in goal looked, when push came to shove he kept his team afloat when they needed it most. Otherwise it would’ve been a fourth straight win for the road team in this series and 2-2 headed back to Newark tomorrow.

Instead, the Blueshirts recovered playing a strong final six minutes which included Staal’s deciding tally with 3:13 remaining to take a 3-1 series lead, pushing the Devils on the brink.

By now, you know the facts. Only nine percent of NHL teams in a 3-1 hole have rallied to win a series. New Jersey still has a few players left from the 2000 Stanley Cup team which were in this predicament when they found a way to win twice in Philly sandwiched around a home win including a dramatic one-goal triumph in Game Seven off the stick of Patrik Elias, who coincidentally has been their best player in this series. Though his brutal giveaway led to Staal’s goal tarnishing a two-goal performance.

The other Devils who were on that team are Madden, Jay Pandolfo, Sergei Brylin, Colin White and of course Martin Brodeur.

Can it be done? Certainly. If the Devils elevate their game limiting mistakes and the Rangers let down, anything can happen. It would be wise for Tom Renney’s club to come out strong tomorrow at an arena they seem to play their best hockey at. If you have a team down, finish them off. Especially when it’s a resilient bunch like the Devs, who will never give up.

The fourth one is always the toughest to get. It’s about having that killer instinct. Scoring early would certainly help the cause. With all three teams netting the first goal in wins last night, that makes it 22 of 27 games this first round which have seen the team which scores first come out on top. In case you’re doing the math, that’s 81.5 percent.

Game Five is tomorrow night at The Prudential Center with a special start time of 7:30.

A few other observations on last night:

-Chris Drury played his best game of the series, netting an important goal off a nifty redirect of a Fedor Tyutin shot. He also tallied an assist.

-Speaking of Tyutin, twice he kept pucks in which led to Ranger goals. He hasn’t played well this series but was a little stronger last night in his end.

-Scott Gomez scored his first two of the series. Once on a great pass by Dan Girardi finishing off a power play goal which set the tone. The other was the empty netter. It looked like he got his stick on the puck while going forward to beat Madden. In any event, the former Devil leads all players with six points (2-4-6) in the four games. They must’ve taken away an assist because I thought he had seven. Maybe the scoring of the Sean Avery Game Two winner was changed.

-Much has been made of the Rangers’ strategy against Brodeur going to the edge of the crease and bumping into him. In particular, this Jaromir Jagr collision has been overblown. While on the man-advantage, No.68 took the puck hard to the net which is a rarity. From my vantage point in watching the replays, it appeared that he was trying to avoid Brodeur and step around there. The problem was that there wasn’t enough room.

I’ve already been yelled at by one of my Devil buddies online. Jagr’s never been a dirty player. While his reputation has come into question, it’s usually on the defensive side of the puck or work ethic. He’s answered the bell this series and played quite well with a goal and four helpers. I’m sure if it was say Avery, Brodeur would’ve been irate. Fact is the future Hall of Fame netminder got up, collected himself and didn’t look visibly upset. I just don’t believe Jagr would intentionally knee a guy he respects. This isn’t Jarkko Ruutu.

On the same topic, first-year Devil coach Brent Sutter voiced his displeasure with the Ranger strategy including one in which Avery was taken down by White and fell right into Brodeur. On the play which drew a penalty, Avery used his superior speed to go around White. The big physical defender then hauled the attacking Ranger down, who kept going sliding into the Devil goalie. Anyone who knows Avery has seen this before. Could he have stopped his momentum? I don’t really know. He has a tendency to take the puck hard to the net and fall after being tripped. Would it shock me if it were intentional? Hardly.

I could see why that would tick Sutter off. Avery pushes the envelope and has a few screws loose.

-Speaking of Avery, can anyone explain why Renney didn’t put the agitating winger out there during a four minute power play which did absolutely zilch in a tie game during the second? Terrible decision making by the coach which could’ve comeback to haunt them.

-Brendan Shanahan shouldn’t be getting as much power play time anymore. He’s looked old in this series.

-It was very uncharacteristic to see the Devils turn over the puck leading to so many Ranger goals. Especially when it was their best players. You don’t expect Elias and Zach Parise to make such weak clearing attempts. They know better and were challenged by their demanding coach afterwards.

-Brandon Dubinsky had another strong game, picking up a primary helper on a nice setup of a Marty Straka tally off a two-on-one. He really has given the Devils fits. They are having trouble dealing with Dubi’s size and speed. He’s an excellent skater who fights through checks and is very tough on the forecheck. The rookie pivot continues to mesh well with Jagr and Straka combining to form a dangerous top line.

-Straka had his best night tallying a goal and assist. He really was effective on the cycle keeping plays alive. His nice cross pass setup Staal’s left point blast, which proved to be the winner.

-Lundqvist did come up with one big save late denying the tricky Parise’s backhand with about 2:35 left. The pesky Devil snuck through but the Ranger No.1 got just enough of his stick on it to push it over the top of the net.

-The Devils need a lot more from Brian Gionta. Much like the regular season, he’s failed to score on Lundqvist and has just not found the right chemistry with Madden or Pandolfo. Maybe it’s time for Sutter to mix up his line combos as Travis Zajac needs scorers on his line instead of stone hands. A Dainius Zubrus-Zajac-Gionta combo wouldn’t be a bad suggestion for tomorrow’s game. That would allow Sutter to keep Parise-Elias-Jamie Langenbrunner intact. He could then shift either Brylin or David Clarkson to the Madden line. Mike Rupp and Arron Asham could play with either on the fourth line.

-Speaking of fourth lines, the Ranger trio of Ryan Hollweg, Blair Betts and Fredrik Sjostrom played well for a second consecutive game. Each has been doing a solid job on the cycle taking the body and working diligently. If there’s been one positive change for the better from Renney, it’s that he’s not overusing that line opting to give more ice-time to his other three scoring lines. Smart move.

-Sutter got his point across last night but why haven’t we heard anything about the three instances in which the Devils got away with having an extra man out there the past two games? How come nothing on the mugging behind the Devil net before Mottau’s tying goal? Parise also knocked Lundqvist’s stick out on the goal. Were those not penalties? Not to sound like a broken record but the officiating has been equally poor for both teams during this series.

-In case you missed it, the Pens completed a sweep of the Senators posting a 3-1 win in Ottawa last night with goals from Evgeni Malkin, Ruutu and Sidney Crosby. They’re the first team to advance to the Conference Semis.

-The Preds also evened their series with the top seeded Wings last night holding on for a 3-2 win. Greg de Vries’ goal 11 seconds after Pavel Datsyuk’s first of the game stood as the winner. If Nashville somehow comes back from 0-2 down to win this series, Detroit can only point to that brutal nine seconds in Game Three where a one-goal lead turned into a brutal loss.