Instead of fangs, they bare missing teeth. Recently deceased, the Undead Devils are rising ominously from the grave they dug themselves.
They’re even saying the “P” word, talking playoffs, which would require the ultimate — and record — revival from the dead.
“If we could climb from last and get into the playoffs, that would be big for us,” Dainius Zubrus understated yesterday, after the Undeads ran their point streak to seven games with a 5-2 triumph over the Panthers in Newark.
“We’re still last, but if we play like we do now, well, I don’t know,” Zubrus said. “It’s tough to look at the big picture.
“It looks like a big mountain. But if we do what we’ve done the last couple of weeks, if we climb back in, that would be a good feeling.”
Suddenly the hottest team in the NHL, the Devils have won a season-high four straight and captured 13 of 14 points (6-0-1) to threaten to climb out of the league’s cellar. The seeming-impossibility of making the playoffs a 14th straight year is now at least a topic for dreamers and believers to ponder, even though they were 27 points out Jan. 8.
“We’re going to make as good a push as we can,” Martin Brodeur said. “We’ll see what the teams do in front of us.
“We might do something. We might not.”
They need 53 of their final 68 available points to reach 88, the historical playoff minimum, a finish of, say, 26-7-1 in their last 34. It’s still overwhelmingly unlikely, but it was 33-8 at the halfway point of the season. They’ve cut it down quickly, and almost to the point of no longer being laughable.
“We’ll see,” said Ilya Kovalchuk, who had a goal and two assists yesterday and 4-4-8 in his past seven. “We feel good about ourselves, but we’re far away.”
It was a month ago yesterday Jacques Lemaire (7-7-1) took over from John MacLean as coach, and the Devils are playing like they did for him early last season, when they went an eerily familiar (see above) 25-8-1 in their first 34.
They were barely troubled yesterday by the Panthers, avenging the lone missed point of this seven-game run, beaten in OT in Sunrise, Fla., nine days earlier.
The Devils opened the scoring yesterday for the fourth straight game after managing the first goal only 17 times in the first 41 games of the season. Kovalchuk tipped Andy Greene’s point shot past ex-Devil Scott Clemmensen 4:20 into play for his team-best 14th, and fourth in six games.
The Devils then took their fourth straight 2-0 lead on a blunder by Clemmensen. With less than 20 seconds left in the first, Henrik Tallinder iced the puck, and Clemmensen even raised his stick to so alert his teammates, then played the puck, negating the icing. The Devils regained control, and with 2.0 seconds left in the first, Jason Arnott backhanded home Mark Fayne’s rebound.
Clemmensen paid the price, replaced at the start of the second by 20-year-old Jacob Markstrom, making his NHL debut. The Panthers responded with Shawn Mattias’ goal, but Brian Rolston reopened the Devils’ two-goal lead with his fifth goal — and third in six games — after scoring two in 24, on the power play at 12:48.
Patrik Elias made it 4-1 with his 13th and third in two days, stretching his point streak to four games. Marty Reasoner’s goal in the third only gave the Panthers reason to pull their goalie, and Arnott finished them off with the empty-netter for his 12th.
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Colin White sat out after leaving Saturday’s 3-1 triumph in Philly during the first period. White told The Post he doesn’t consider his injury major. “Day-to-day,” he said, but would not elaborate beyond “Lower body.” . . The Devils visit Detroit Wednesday, then take the All-Star break. Patrik Elias is the Devils’ lone rep.
Kovalchuk said he likely wouldn’t accept an invitation to replace Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin for the All-Star game. . . David Clarkson had an apparent goal disallowed because the ref whistled play before he jammed in a rebound. “It happens,” Clarkson said.
