No, the Devils aren’t making any excuses, but if Ilya Kovalchuk isn’t the light at the end of this dark and morbid tunnel, than there is no light at all this season.
It was Wednesday night at the Prudential Center where the Devils laid their latest egg, a 5-4 loss to the Bruins, sinking them deeper into the depths of the conference standings as their playoff hopes dwindle with each game Kovalchuk is forced to sit out.
It is now eight games in a row the Devils’ do-it-all winger has missed with his right shoulder injury, and during that span the team is 0-4-4. Now at 15-15-10 going into tomorrow night’s home match against the Senators, the Devils last won a game on March 23, when they had 36 points and were in seventh place. Now, eight games later, they have 40 points, are in 10th place, and are four points behind the eighth-place Rangers.
“When you look around the room and [Kovalchuk’s] not there, you maybe lose a little bit of confidence,” forward Ryan Carter said before the game. “He’s a guy that can change the game in a moment, and we miss that.”
Kovalchuk skated yesterday for the second day in a row, saying he had a “good skate,” though it’s highly doubtful he will play tomorrow.
“For sure I want to be back as soon as I can to help the team, whatever I can to win the games because it’s a crucial moment of the season now,” Kovalchuk said. “I think the playoffs start for us from [last night’s] game.”
If that’s the case, the playoffs for the Devils might be ending before the tournament. They have to hope Kovalchuk can come back sooner than expected, although he is still not taking full-bore slap shots but is able to engage in some physical contact.
“We did definitely more shots and a little battle there at the end, so it’s good,” Kovalchuk said. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
The Devils did take some steps in the right direction last night, fighting back from a horrid first period when the Bruins (26-9-4) were up 3-0. The Devils push back started midway through the second, with Patrik Elias tipping in a Steve Sullivan point shot, followed eight minutes later by a short-handed goal from Travis Zajac, cutting the Bruins lead to 4-2.
They added another from Andy Greene early in the third to cut it to 4-3, but just 1:35 later Tyler Seguin quieted the dust-up with his 13th of the season, making it 5-3. With the Devils’ net empty and 37 seconds left, Matt D’Agostini cut it to 5-4, but that’s where it ended.
It was just eight minutes into the game before the Devils were in an insurmountable hole.
With 70 seconds gone by, the newest Bruin Jaromir Jagr got a turnaround shot on net, which was put home by Gregory Campbell for a 1-0 Boston lead. Just over three minutes later, Daniel Paille scored shorthanded, which was followed less than four minutes later by another shorty, Campbell’s second goal of the game, making it 3-0.
So there was 20 minutes of hockey during which the Devils played 6:26 with at least one extra man on the ice — 1:34 with two extra men — and they were down 3-0. And they were lucky that was the score, as the Bruins’ Johnny Boychuk also had an unsuccessful penalty shot.
By the time the public address announcer said there was one minute remaining in the period, the 17,625 comprising the sellout crowd cheered in much-deserved mockery.
bcyrgalis@nypost.com