NHL

Devils deny they’ll shoot at Rangers on purpose

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The Rangers consciously risk their bodies — and lives — in their signature shot-blocking strategy. They gain a major advantage, yet they object to the suggestion that the Devils might exploit those risks.

The Devils’ dilemma is to avoid becoming good losers, like the Senators and Capitals before them, while remaining good sportsmen.

“They’re hot at blocking shots. We might be able to hurt a few guys [by] hitting one-timers in the foot and their head or something,” goalie Martin Brodeur said Monday after the Devils were blanked 3-0 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.

It could be ruled unsportsmanlike conduct or attempt to injure. It would be condemnable. Apologists would call it “doing what it takes.”

Ah, but this is ice hockey, where John Ferguson rips Bobby Hull’s football facemask off his head to pound his still-broken jaw.

The Devils may have to decide whether they would prefer winning dirty to losing admirably.

Should they wait until they see the whites of their eyes?

“I can’t tell you that to put in the paper,” one Devils player said.

“That’s a little hard-core,” winger Dainius Zubrus said. “I haven’t done that yet in my career, actually shoot at anybody’s face. I’m not really planning on it. I think there are still lanes to get it through. Sometimes the puck gets away, and people get hit. But honestly, I’ve never aimed at anybody’s head.”

Calder Trophy candidate Adam Henrique says deliberate head-hunting isn’t necessary.

“You pay the price to block shots,” the center said. “It’s always been part of the game.

“Either find a way around it or find a way through it. I don’t think you look to hit a guy in the head.”

The numbers are daunting. The Rangers blocked 26 Devils shots Monday, and the Devils missed on 15 more, putting just 21 on Henrik Lundqvist in 62 attempts. Ilya Kovalchuk’s big shot staggered Derek Stepan in the first, but Stepan returned to action.

“Hah,” Kovalchuk responded when asked if the Devils would shoot to maim. “No, we have to find the lanes. We played against them a lot, and that’s their strategy. When we were successful the last game in Jersey (March 6), we beat them 4-1, our ‘D’ found a way to put the puck on net, with traffic in front.”

The Eastern Conference has watched and waited all season as the Rangers blocked shots all the way to the top seed. Now they’re seven victories from their second Stanley Cup in 72 years. It still is working.

“We’ve got a plan,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said.

They will be honorable. The Rangers will block shots, the Devils will try to exploit sliding defenders. It’s a Stanley Cup playoff series, push and shove, act and react. Perhaps DeBoer will reunite Kovalchuk and Zach Parise. Then it will be Tortorella’s turn to react.

But despite DeBoer’s insistence yesterday that “it’s definitely not the story of the series,” the shot-blocking is the first issue for a losing team to resolve.

mark.everson@nypost.com