COME TOGETHER: While they trail the Kings 3-1, the Devils believe they can do what only the 1942 Maple Leafs did: come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the Stanley Cup. (Getty Images)
The Devils say seven decades is long enough, that it’s time to join the 1942 Maple Leafs. The Rangers won a Stanley Cup since then, demonstrating that even stranger things have happened.
The Devils say they believe they can duplicate those Leafs’ greatest comeback in hockey history, winning the Stanley Cup from an 0-3 finals deficit.
They’ve already taken the first step, fighting off elimination Wednesday in Los Angeles to make Game 5 necessary Saturday night in Newark.
“You know it’s going to happen again. So why not us?” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said Friday. “You’re not going to go 200 years without someone else doing it.
“It’s been long enough. It might as well be us.”
Wednesday’s 3-1 triumph in Game 4 denied Los Angeles a chance to celebrate a first Cup. The Devils, who have never been swept in team history, are aiming at June 13 as the date of their fourth Cup, needing to win three more without losing once.
“We do believe,” said Patrik Elias, the franchise’s leading goal-scorer and point getter, regular season and playoffs. “We’re excited, we’re still playing hockey in June.
“We’re back in it. We’re fine, now.”
Elias scored in the third period Wednesday to break Jonathan Quick’s 138:39 shutout streak. After the Kings immediately tied the game, Adam Henrique scored his third winner of the playoffs.
“There are always new heroes to be made,” said Elias, whose third-period goal capping that 1-3 comeback against the 2000 Flyers remains a major moment in Devils’ history. “It can help you to replay those good moments and pump you up, but I like to just stay calm because there’s so much hype already.
“It’s a long way, although there are only five days left. But still, there’s a lot of hockey left.
“Nine years to get back to the finals, so you never know when it’s going to happen again, and that’s one lesson you try to get to the young guys. We’re not done here yet.’’
Elias gladly gave up his tickets for yesterday’s Russia-Czech soccer match in Euro 2012. He prefers playing for the Stanley Cup to watching the Euros live.
Martin Brodeur, the Devils’ leading Conn Smythe Trophy candidate, says the 2000 comeback is of limited value.
“Only a few guys lived that.” Brodeur said. “But right now, this is a new team, new circumstances.
“You’re so scared to lose and go home. You have to have that fear. You have to believe and you have to play that game. It’s not a feeling that’s fun, facing elimination. It’s Game 7 every single game.”
To send the finals back to Los Angeles for Game 6 Monday, the Devils must end the Kings’ perfect road playoff, a record away start of 10. The Kings will be seeking to break the other record, shared by the 1995 and 2000 Devils, of 10 total road victories in a playoffs.
New Jersey will have to finish 12-1 in Games 4-7 of their four series to cop its fourth Cup. The Devils are 4-8 in Games 1-3, and 9-1 in those Games 4-7 of these playoffs, while the Kings are 3-3 in Games 4 and 5, not needing any more.
“We’ve been a team all year that’s kind of dipped our toe in the pool to check the temperature before we’ve jumped in with both feet,” DeBoer said. “That’s been one of our characteristics all year, something we’ve been trying to get out of. I think that’s carried over a little bit.
“I also think that, as a series goes on, we recognize what’s working for us and what isn’t. We try and fix those things. The luxury we’ve had the other three series, you know, we haven’t dropped three games in a row.”
“The more the series goes on, the more important it gets,” Brodeur said. “Later on in a series, you play better. Maybe we should start Game 4 instead of Game 1.”
Essentially, that’s what they’ve done, without any margin for error.
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DeBoer bragged that he wasn’t distracted by the well-endowed woman behind the Devils’ bench in Game 4. “You saw my 100% focus on the game. That’s discipline, I’ll tell you,” he said, smiling. …
The Stanley Cup has been awarded on the road for the last four seasons. Anaheim was the last to win at home in 2007. … Adam Henrique’s two overtime goals match the rookie record shared by Jacques Lemaire (1968) and Claude Lemieux (1986). He’s the first rookie to notch three game-winners since Chris Drury (4) and Milan Hejduk (3) in 1999 for Colorado. Only Henrique and Martin Gelinas (Calgary, 2004) have scored two series-ending OT goals in a playoff. The Devils’ never-swept mark now stands at 43 series. … With New Jersey’s 3-1 victory in L.A. Wednesday, road teams have won a record 47 games in these playoffs (47-37).