The Devils haven’t been off this long since the 2002 Olympics, and Martin Brodeur didn’t stick-handle around the issue.

Rust will be the Devils’ first opponent in this second-round series against the Lightning that opens tonight at the Meadowlands.

“It will, early in the game. They’re going to come flying in the first period, and we’ve got to stay afloat. Then we’ll get our legs,” Brodeur said.

Pat Burns worked his Atlantic Division champs hard in their full week between series, giving them off last Friday and Easter Sunday. While the week allowed bruises, whiplashes, non-concussions, knee tweaks and Sergei Brylin to heal, it might have taken some of the edge off the form that ousted the Bruins in five games.

“We’re excited about getting started. It’s a long time to go without playing,” Burns said.

So there were Jamie Langenbrunner, the five-goal hero of the first round, and captain Scott Stevens, the hero of nearly every round, blasting each other with shoulder after shoulder in practice yesterday.

“It’s weird that we haven’t been in a battle for so long, and it’s a little bit of getting you battling and bumping a little bit,” Langenbrunner said.

“It was nice at the start to know we’d have some time off, but we didn’t know it was going to be this long,” Stevens said. “We were able to get away from the program of playing a game, practicing, playing a game, eating, drinking and thinking hockey. Now we’re hungry to get back to that routine and start this series.”

The Devils expect Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin to make life miserable for them even as they concentrate on shutting down forwards Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier.

“I put [Khabibulin] in the top five in the league,” Joe Nieuwendyk said. “We’ll have two of the top five goalies going at it. But he’s human, like every other goalie, except maybe [Anaheim’s] J.S. Giguere. We’ll have to get in front of him. He doesn’t leave that goal line much and doesn’t venture out often.”

“Just shoot,” Brodeur said. “He’s a reflex goalie, so you can’t let him see the puck. In the playoffs, it’s simple. They’re not going to give you much, so shoot. Get the rebounds. Try bad-angle shots.”

If no one else is putting pressure on Langenbrunner to score, he is. After managing only one assist in five games last postseason, and scoring 22 in 78 games this year, Langenbrunner’s 5-in-5 was a welcome explosion.

“We have to find goals somewhere, so the pressure’s going to be on our line to score, just like on [Scott Gomez’s] line to score,” Langenbrunner said.

“Those five goals were great, but they don’t mean a lot if we don’t win the next round. Winning one round was never our goal.”