The Devils have a message for the skeptics waiting for them to implode.
“It’s not going to happen. The wheels are not going to fall off this team,” Brian Rolston told The Post last night, after the Undead Devils ran their revival to 13-1-2 in 16 with a 3-2 triumph over Carolina in Newark.
“We have too many good players, playing well. We’re going to get into tough hockey games, but as little confidence as we had in the first half, we have just as much the other way, now.”
Whether it’s enough to salvage this season remains their Preposterous Dream, but they’ve whittled it down to 19-6 in their final 25 to reach 88 points, the fewest ever to make these shootout-era playoffs.
Winners of five straight and 7-0-1 this month, the Devils reached 50 points last night, capturing their 28th of their last possible 32.
“We can’t afford to lose. It’s that simple,” said Rolston, whose personal revival mirrors that of the team.
With this year and next left on a contract at $5 million per, Rolston was ignominiously waived in December as the Devils hoped to shed his salary and cap hit. Then he was placed on re-entry waivers, with the Devils willing to absorb half his remaining cap hit and salary, while he would play for another team.
“For the money his contract is, quite frankly, the return is not there,” GM Lou Lamoriello said at the time. “With the payroll we have, I have to start somewhere.”
When there were still no takers in December, they brought him back. Sometimes the best moves are the opposite of what was intended. Rolston has gone 7-9-16 in New Jersey’s 16-game rise from the grave, a vital player.
Goalie Johan Hedberg has revived his career, too. He was confronting the fear that no one would offer him a contract this summer after being part of New Jersey’s meltdown, but he’s kept the comeback going with four straight triumphs while Martin Brodeur recovers from a right knee sprain.
Then there’s Ilya Kovalchuk, whose style is still so antithetical to Devils Hockey, yet is becoming a major part of their arsenal. There’s nothing like a goal scorer when you need a goal.
Kovalchuk provided the one the Devils needed after they had naught to show for an opening 25 minutes of solid play. He took defenseman Joe Corvo 20-feet right, then 20-feet left, and ducked back to his right to snap his 20th past Cam Ward. The Devils had the lead they never relinquished and Kovalchuk extended his NHL-longest current point streak to eight games (5-5-10).
Rolston gave New Jersey insurance 34 seconds into the third with his ninth, and seventh in 15 games, rebounding Patrik Elias’ left-wing shot. Elias, New Jersey’s scoring leader with 43 points, followed 1:25 later, sent by Rolston 1-on-1 against defenseman Jamie McBain. Elias faked McBain outside and cut inside to break cleanly and slip his 14th through Ward.
Carolina’s Sergei Samsonov spoiled Hedberg’s shutout bid at 8:17, steering in Jiri Tlusty’s feed to the front from the end boards. Tuomo Ruutu made it close with 4.1 seconds left and Ward on the bench for a sixth attacker.
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Jacques Lemaire said Brodeur will join the team in practice today after skating again on his own yesterday. He missed his fourth straight with a mild right knee sprain suffered Feb. 6.
Kovalchuk’s eight-game point streak also is the Devils’ longest this season, while his three-game goal streak is the team’s first this year. … Lemaire is 14-8-2 since taking over from 9-22-2 John MacLean Dec. 23.