TORONTO — They’re doing it again, these Devils. They’re acting like a real team, and getting the results of one.
“We’re having fun, I’m telling you,” said Martin Brodeur, the guy who has seen 18 Devils squadrons, including three Cup winners and nine division champs. “It’s kind of refreshing to have a bunch of guys where everybody gets along. Not that we had teams that had guys that hated each other, but we go that extra yard to have that feeling with each other.”
They had more to celebrate last night as they ran their record to 9-1-1 since the All-Star break and 23-8-3 in the last 34. After giving up another late goal to force overtime, they then won 4-3 in the extra session when Mark Fayne’s innocent point shot escaped Maple Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson.
“Everybody’s happy about the guy who’s having the success and not the opposite,” Brodeur said. “It’s nice. If we decide to go out for dinner, you’ll see different mixes of guys, [not all the same] all the time. In the locker room, guys come in early for practice and talk a lot. It’s a fun atmosphere.
“Even when we weren’t winning as consistently as we are now, I think that’s what brought us to this point, to get to know each other a lot.”
They Devils have dealt with adversity frequently lately, blowing leads by allowing the first goal of the third period for three straight games — and winning all of them. They’ve given up the opening goal of the third period seven times in the past nine games, scoring it only once. And yet, they’re 7-1-1 in those nine.
They say they’re feeling what others are seeing.
“I’m really excited,” said Alexei Ponikarovsky, looking like a missing piece of the puzzle. “We really have a good chance of doing something here.”
Ponikarovsky has four goals and six assists in 13 games with the Devils. His second goal in three games gave the Devils the lead in the second person, a lead they saw vanish with 43.5 seconds left in regulation.
“OK, we got scored on — lucky bounce,” Ponikarovsky said. “It made everybody even more motivated to get that back.”
They earned the second point by improving to 4-1 in overtime this season, in addition to their 10-3 shootout mastery. It was their seventh straight road victory, tied for third-longest streak in team history, with 10 the record set in their best season of 2000-01.
The Devils took a 2-0 lead quickly on goals by Petr Sykora and hometown Leafs-killer David Clarkson, only to see Tim Connolly answer. The Leafs’ Clarke MacArthur tied the game in the second, but Ponikarovsky sent the Devils into the third with a 3-2 lead.
Phil Kessel forced OT with Gustavsson pulled, when Patrik Elias’ attempt to clear the crease landed on his stick with an open net. But Fayne answered with his own lucky goal, the one that gave the Devils victory at 1:16 of OT.
“It’s time to start separating ourselves from the pack,” Fayne said.
They didn’t gain any ground on the Flyers or Penguins, each one point back, but they did move two points nearer the East-leading Rangers. The Devils are getting scary again.
While protesting that he’d never said so previously, general manager Lou Lamoriello last night told The Post he won’t be trading Zach Parise before Monday’s deadline, confirming what Pete DeBoer said earlier yesterday.
“It hasn’t been a distraction because our general manager has made it very clear that it’s not an issue, he’s not going anywhere. That ended the distraction, right there,” DeBoer said.
The Devils captain can become an unrestricted free agent July 1 and could be the most-sought rental on the market, if he was on it. Sources say Parise has decided against negotiating a new long-term deal before the trade deadline and perhaps before the end of the season. The possibility exists that if the Devils decide they won’t be able to sign him to a new deal, they might trade his rights before July 1, giving that partner an early jump toward signing him.
The Devils play host to the Canucks on Friday. … Bryce Salvador remained in the lineup after leaving bench ill in Sunday’s 3-1 victory in Montreal. … Sykora opened the scoring with his 316th goal in his 994th NHL game.