NEW YORK -- After playing what Drew Stafford described as four consecutive periods of bad hockey, the New Jersey Devils flipped the switch at Madison Square Garden and got back in the win column.

Miles Wood, Adam Henrique and Stafford each scored a goal and the New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers 3-2 on Saturday night.

After the Devils (4-1-0) lost their first game of the season on Friday to the Washington Capitals, New Jersey rebounded and moved back into first place in the Metropolitan Division.

The Devils got off to a slow start against the Rangers (1-5-0), who outshot New Jersey 14-3 in the first period, but Devils goaltender Keith Kinkaid kept the game scoreless.

"Unfortunately, against the Capitals we tried to play a little bit more of a skill game, and that'll beat you up," Stafford said. "Tonight, same thing in the first. We weren't hard enough on pucks and they outworked us, had a little higher compete-level. Keith bailed us out and we were able to turn it around."

Kinkaid made his first start of the season and stymied New York in the first. He stopped Brady Skjei on a point-blank one-timer and also turned away Rick Nash, lunging with his blocker to get a piece of his wrist shot in the first period.

Kinkaid, a Long Island native who grew up a New York Islanders fan, made his career first start at Madison Square Garden and finished with 29 saves.

"I felt good right off the bat," Kinkaid said. "Seeing the puck; really amped. Easy to get up for this game, growing up, not liking them anyway."

Nash and the Rangers broke through 5:31 into the second period when David Desharnais found Nash at the side of the crease for his first goal of the season.

But the Devils began to generate more shots at even strength after that and tied the score less than five minutes later.

Desharnais turned the puck over in the Rangers' zone while attempting to clear and Brian Gibbons found Henrique, who beat Ondrej Pavelec to the far side to make it 1-1.

"Brian was excellent tonight," Devils head coach John Hynes said. "That was a big difference in the game. It gave us some life."

The Devils took the lead at 16:41 in the second period on a deflected point shot.

Ben Lovejoy skated into a one-time shot, firing it toward the front, where Wood tipped it from the high slot past Pavelec for his third of the season. Henrique was also screening Pavelec on the play.

Stafford made it 3-1 a minute into the third period. With the Devils on a 4-on-3 power play, Will Butcher pulled up at the blue line and flipped the puck to Stafford in stride. He skated in behind the defense and flipped the puck past a sprawling Pavelec.

"I went back to play the puck in the neutral zone, and then (Stafford) said, 'I'm going, I'm going,'" Butcher said. "I knew he was already wheeling with speed."

Butcher, who had three assists in his NHL debut this season, is now tied for third in the league with eight. He also leads all rookies with eight points.

"He's a good player. He doesn't really surprise me anymore," Stafford said. "He's a heck of a player, so for him to be able to have the success that he's had so far, granted it's power play, but that's something I feel like he can ride that as long as he can."

Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored with 56.8 seconds remaining in regulation to cut the deficit to 3-2.

The Rangers, who were fourth in the NHL in scoring last season, have now scored six goals in their past four games, going 1-3-0 over that stretch.

"Sooner or later, it's not good enough to only get chances," Nash said. "You need to actually score. We couldn't seem to beat the goaltender enough times tonight."

NOTES: This was the ninth time that brothers Kevin and Jimmy Hayes played against each other in the NHL. Kevin and the Rangers had won seven of the previous eight. ... Devils F Drew Stafford drew back into the lineup after missing the previous three games with a lower-body injury. ... Rangers F Jesper Fast made his season debut, after missing New York's first five games recovering from offseason hip surgery.