NHL

Trio of Devils on Team USA

The Devils entered yesterday with an Eastern Conference-best 57 points, and they ended it with an NHL-best three U.S. Olympians.

Jamie Langenbrunner, Zach Parise and Paul Martin were picked to Team USA.

It is the second Olympics for the 34-year-old Langenbrunner, but his first since the 1998 Nagano Games, while Parise is set to make his Olympics debut.

Martin’s selection was something of a surprise. The Devils’ top defenseman has been limited to nine games this season because of a broken left forearm that required surgery on Dec. 22 after not healing properly. Martin had been pessimistic about his chances of making a second straight U.S. Olympics team. The injury is expected to keep him sidelined until late January at the earliest — the Olympic tournament begins in Vancouver on Feb. 14.

Three other Devils were earlier named to their nation’s Olympic teams — Martin Brodeur (Canada), Patrik Elias (Czech Republic), Johnny Oduya (Sweden).

But the Olympics remain on the horizon as the Devils kick off the new year tonight with Jacques Lemaire’s return to Minnesota (8:00, MSG, WFAN 660 AM).

Lemaire coached the Wild (20-18-3) for nine years, from their inaugural season in 2000-01 through last season, before returning to New Jersey for a second stint behind the Devils’ bench.

Lemaire has the Devs (28-10-1), who are playing their fourth game of the week, atop the Eastern Conference. After handling the Thrashers on Monday and shutting out the Penguins at home on Wednesday, the Devils seemed to suffer from the quick turnaround in a sluggish 5-1 loss to the Blackhawks in Chicago on Thursday night. It was the Devils’ first loss in the second game of a back-to-back this season.

jlehman@nypost.com