NEWARK, N.J. — It’s hard enough staying in the playoff race when you are winning games.

When you don’t . . .

The Rangers’ playoff hopes took a big hit in Prudential Center and on national television Saturday afternoon when they fell, 4-0, to their Hudson River rival Devils. Timo Meier had two goals, Nico Hischier a goal and two assists, Jesper Bratt a goal, and goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves to earn his fourth shutout of the season.

For the Rangers, it was the fourth time this season they have been shut out, and the second time in Prudential Center. They lost here to the Devils 5-0 on Dec. 23.

The Rangers entered the game two points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second and final wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, with each team having seven games remaining. Montreal is in action Saturday night at home against Philadelphia, and a victory in that one would put the Rangers four points behind them with six games to play.

The Rangers (36-33-7, 79 points) outshot the Devils 26-16, but lost the special teams battle decidedly, going 0-for-2 on the power play and allowing a shorthanded goal. They also allowed a power play goal in two times shorthanded.

In the first period, the Rangers seemed to spend more time in their own end of the ice and on the defensive despite outshooting the Devils 7-4. But in the second period, the momentum swung firmly in favor of the home team.

It started when the teams started taking penalties. The Devils’ Justin Dowling took the first, a high-sticking infraction against K’Andre Miller at 5:23. But the Rangers’ power play, which entered the game having gone 1-for-26 in their previous 10 games and 2-for-41 in the previous 15, came up empty. Then, when Sam Carrick was called for an interference penalty at 10:52, Hischier beat Vincent Trocheck on the faceoff, Jack Hughes passed to Meier, and Meier blasted a one-timer past Igor Shesterkin to make it 1-0 Devils at 10:56.

Fifty-three seconds later, the Rangers got a second power play, but that only made things worse as Hischier and Jesper Bratt ended up racing up ice on a two-on-one break and Hischier set up Bratt for a shorthanded goal to put the Devils up, 2-0, at 12:23. In the third period Meier added his second goal and  Hischier scored into an empty net.