The issue is athletic honor, and while the Devils cringe a bit from past history, they do not shrink. They’ll try again for the conference championship, no matter that being top seed has been nothing short of a killer jinx to them.
“In order to be fair to yourself, you have to play the games to win,” Larry Robinson said, in this position with New Jersey for the first time. “It’s great when you can win the conference and be seeded first. At least you know you’re assured of home-ice. However, we’ve played some of our best hockey on the road.”
The Devils own the best record in the East, one point behind Toronto, which has played two more games. They have overcome their six-game losing streak of November by going 12-3-3 in the 18 games since Jason Arnott and Scott Niedermayer returned for restricted free agency.
But they have yet to beat this evening’s opponent, standing 0-1-1 against the Flyers this season, the team that kept them from a fourth straight Eastern title last spring, and forced them to make a historic semifinal comeback to reach the finals and win the Cup.
Before last season, the Devils won three straight Eastern Conference titles and went out early in the playoffs each time, in 1997’s second round to the Rangers, in 1998’s first round to Ottawa and in 1999’s first round to Pittsburgh.
Those stunning upsets brought changes to the team, the end of Jacques Lemaire’s tenure as coach, and questions of whether the Devils had the right postseason stuff.
Last year, they lost the conference title by two points to the Flyers. Seeded fourth in the East, they went on to win their second Stanley Cup.
The inferences are not lost on the Devils.
“The bottom line is to play good hockey,” Scott Stevens said. “We showed you don’t have to be the No. 1 seed, but it’s a lot more fun to be up there.”
While they’ve gone unbeaten in six (5-0-1), the Devils have also vastly improved their chances at a fifth straight 100-point season, also being sought by the Stars, a feat only achieved by the ’76-’80 Bruins, ’82-’87 Oilers (six), ’75-’82 Canadiens (eight) and ’74-’78 Flyers.
Not even the dynastic Islanders managed it, maxxing out at four straight from ’76-’79. And as ancient and honored a franchise as the Maple Leafs have achieved 100 points only once, last season.
The Devils will need 54 points in their final 45 games, a pace that no longer seems daunting, now that they have their team together. They are coming off a 6-3 victory in Columbus where they showed long stretches of excellence, outclassing the expansion Blue Jackets. Now they’re back against their own division, facing the Flyers, Islanders and Rangers this week.
So they begin 2001 as they have the past four years, looking to be the best in the East. It’s all they can now. They can’t defend their Cup until April.
*
Devils host Isles Thursday and visit Rangers Saturday afternoon. Sunday’s visit by Phoenix is still in limbo, forced to be rescheduled by the Giants’ playoff game at the Meadowlands . . . Alexander Mogilny has eight goals in nine games and a five-game point streak . . . Sergei Brylin set a career high with his 10th goal of the season Sunday . . . Turner Stevenson had two points on the power play against Columbus.