Devils believe goal of playoffs is within reach

PHILADELPHIA -- It seemed like a wild aspiration when the season started that the New Jersey Devils, 27th in a 30-team NHL last season, would wake up on Valentine's Day in position to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It's not wild now. It's reality. The Devils are in position to be the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference with 26 games to play. They've been in position to make the playoffs all season after starting with eight wins in their first 10 games (8-2-0).

Beyond that, the Devils'
5-4 shootout victory
against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, a win that ended a four-game losing streak (0-4-0), is proof that they might have enough to finish the job in a Metropolitan Division that is as wide open as it is competitive.
"It's what we wanted at the start of the year," said forward Taylor Hall, who scored his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season Tuesday. "All the experts … picked us to finish last, and we're in the thick of a playoff race. We're right where we want to be. I think we have a lot of strides to take, but we're excited about what's to come."
They should be, but with the right sense of modesty and understanding of what's to come.
The Devils are 4-8-0, with two four-game losing streaks, since Jan. 20. They don't have No. 1 goaltender Cory Schneider, who has missed the past nine games with hip and groin injuries and is expected to resume skating next week.

They're also relatively young and immersed in a tight division race that creates emotional highs and lows that can consume inexperienced teams like the Devils if they're not careful.
"The thing with our team is sometimes we do get a bit too high, a bit too low," Hall said. "So for us, it's important to know that it's a win [against the Flyers], take what we can from it, but we have really important games that we have to put our focus on coming up."
The one thing coach John Hynes doesn't want them to focus on is the standings, even though it's hard to hide from them.
"They're posted on the wall and we all have our phones," defenseman Ben Lovejoy said. "We're glued to them like anybody else. We know exactly where we stand, but we need to step away from that a little bit."
That's easier said than done. The Devils also are glued to the fact that the Metropolitan Division race is so close, with 12 points separating the first-place Washington Capitals (71) from the last-place New York Rangers (59).
In the middle are the Pittsburgh Penguins (68 points), the Flyers (66), the Devils (64), the Carolina Hurricanes (63), the Columbus Blue Jackets (62) and the New York Islanders (60).
It's the tightest top-to-bottom gap in any division this season. No other division has a 12-point gap between more than five teams; the Metropolitan Division has eight teams.

The Devils play six of their next nine games in the division, including three against the Hurricanes, starting at Prudential Center on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-SE, NHL.TV). They also play six of their final nine games against division opponents.
"It's going to be a tight race. It's been a tight race," Hynes said. "Every team in our division is extremely competitive, including us. You have to stay with it. You have to keep grinding. You have to play well. This thing we knew was going to be competitive."
It's on the Devils to stay competitive in it. No one can say with certainty that's a given.
"This team hasn't been in these games in the last five years," Hynes said.
It's longer than that. The Devils haven't made the playoffs since going to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012. Defenseman Andy Greene and center Travis Zajac are all that remain from that team.
New Jersey has 13 players on its roster, including three on injured reserve (Schneider, Marcus Johansson, Brian Gibbons), who have combined to play 490 NHL playoff games. Nine of its regular skaters, including Hall, in his eighth season, and four rookies (Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Blake Coleman, Will Butcher) have not played in any.

"It's understanding, if you look at the games, how intense the games get now," Hynes said. "It's really the mental game for us now, understanding the focus level and the importance of getting yourself ready to play at a certain level every night because every night is a battle."
If they bring it for 26 more games, the Devils are talented enough and far enough along in their growth as a team to find ways to win enough games, like they did Tuesday, to get in.
It's not a wild aspiration anymore. Now it's a challenge.
"Whether people believe in it, whether they thought the first half of the season was a fluke, I think we believe in each other in this room and we play for each other," forward Kyle Palmieri said. "We go out there every night and try and obviously outcompete the other team, but thrive off each other winning battles and competing. That's something that's been stressed since Day One and we've bought in since Day One. It's tough to do it for 82 straight games, but without a doubt we have what it takes in this room to win at this time of year and we know what we have to do."