TORONTO — A bunch with increasing aspirations, the Devils have done all the climbing they can unless they surmount the Rangers, too. That means they have their Manhattan rivals in their sights, albeit telescopic for now.
A season after missing the playoffs, the Devils stand fourth in the Eastern Conference as they visit the Maple Leafs tonight.
The top three slots are automatically allotted to division winners, meaning they have to take the Atlantic lead away from the Rangers.
“Why wouldn’t you?” Andy Greene said. “We don’t want to finish second, third or fourth.
“When you play good hockey, you start catching teams.”
In one night, with Sunday’s 3-1 victory in Montreal, the Devils finally did some catching. They passed both the Penguins and the Flyers to reach second place in the Atlantic Division for the first time in 22 months.
The Devils stand 8-1-1 since the All-Star break, 22-8-3 in 33 games. They seek a seventh straight road victory tonight, which would equal the third-longest road winning streak in their history.
The Rangers have a game in hand and a nine-point lead on the Devils, who say it can be done.
“Keep your eye on the prize,” Martin Brodeur said. “Do what you need to. Keep pace. And we play them three more times. It would be nice.”
Brodeur, 16-6-2 in his last 24 decisions, is to start his fifth straight game and 14th of 16 tonight.
He chose not to remain behind in Montreal to attend to his father, expected to be released from the hospital today after undergoing brain surgery Friday.
“He was walking [Sunday] and more [yesterday]. He should recover to as well as he was before, maybe better. But it was a difficult time, not being there,” Brodeur said.
Brodeur said his mother, brothers and sister took the weight off his shoulders by providing care for Denis, 81, the former team photographer for the Canadiens and Expos.
Brodeur said hockey took his mind off the situation that was out of his control.
“You get away and concentrate on what you do,” he said. “I have a couple of hours when I don’t have to worry about phone calls. It’s one of the beauties of our sport, or any sport.”
He said he told a few friends on the team, but didn’t want it to become a distraction, for him or them.
“Like we always do here [with the Devils], we deal with it,” Brodeur said.
“I’m sure there will be more things to deal with because it’s pretty serious. It’s the first time this happened for our family.”