STILL KICKIN’: Zach Parise and the Devils are not prepared for their season to possibly end tonight against Stephen Weiss and the Panthers in Game 6 of their playoff series in Newark. (
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They don’t act like they’re going down. Instead, the Devils project determined assurance they’re the better team, barely able to resist making the Mark Messier prediction that they’ll Win Tonight, then Thursday as well.
They believe.
Posture and words must translate to consecutive victories or the abyss beckons. They face elimination at Prudential Center tonight in Game 6 of their opening-round playoff series against the Panthers. The only prize for avoiding immediate ouster is the chance to advance Thursday in Florida.
“I still believe we can beat them,” Dainius Zubrus told The Post. “This team, we can beat. I’m thinking about that more than our season might be over [tonight],”
Patrik Elias, the engine of this team most of the season, its all-time leading scorer in the regular season and playoffs, has been there, done that, won the Cup.
“I don’t even have in my mind that this might be our last game,” Elias told The Post. “I’m not ready.”
Then Elias repeated it, for emphasis.
“I’m not ready.”
They don’t expect any problem getting up for this game. They want to make sure they keep their emotions under control.
“I’m trying to cool myself down,” Elias said. “Emotions are going to be there, no matter what you do.”
Elias, Martin Brodeur and Petr Sykora were part of the Devils’ only comebacks from 3-2 holes, against the 2000 Flyers and 2001 Maple Leafs.
“Approach it like it’s just a game, do everything right and have your A-game,” Elias said. “Don’t worry about the end result.”
“The emotion shows you care, but you have to bottle it, to a certain extent,” Brodeur said. “Sometimes you over-forecheck, you’re over-physical, or you over-backcheck.
“Don’t try to be somebody we’re not.”
Coach Pete DeBoer said he expects the Devils to be better, just on an emotional level.
“We need a ramping-up of our intensity,” DeBoer said. “That was one area that wasn’t high enough in Florida [a 3-0 loss Saturday]. The guys understand the situation. They can count.
“We haven’t had a must-win yet. We’ve had pressure situations, we’ve been in some of those crossroads games, and we’ve responded well.”
The opportunity is immense, even greater than at season’s end. The field is clearing out and those who remain will actually have a shot at a Stanley Cup.
Still, they’re not getting any younger, and elimination for a fifth straight first round, and fourth straight since moving to Newark — both excluding last year’s playoff miss — would make it even less likely Zach Parise comes back as a free agent.
But he’s not the only one. Zubrus, for example, is still seeking his first ring in his 15th season.
“It’s motivation, for sure. You know these chances don’t come very often,” Zubrus said.
Ilya Kovalchuk again denied speculation he is injured, with two goals and an assist in five games. “One hundred, 110 percent,” Kovalchuk insisted. He said he may shoot more tonight, but said he won’t try to win the game single-handedly.
“It’s not an individual sport. The worst thing I can do is try to do everything by myself,’’ he said. “That’s when you get yourself and the team in trouble.”
The Devils are 4-8 in Newark during the postseason and have gone 26 straight playoff games without the consecutive victories they’ll need to survive. … They are 3-for-7 on power play at home, 1-for-11 on the road. The Panthers are 3-for-9 on the road, 4-for-14 at home.