PHILADELPHIA- The Devils’ grand era is surely ending, but if the book closes tonight, it ends as a tragedy. The next volume will begin with new characters, probably including many players.

But the Devils would rather write some history themselves.

One more loss to the Flyers effectively brings down the curtain on the 18-year reign of John McMullen as owner of the best hockey team in NY/NJ, with the limo leaving the theater in July.

One more loss leaves his proud ownership tasting the final ashes of five straight years of season-ending failure.

McMullen will have his 1995 Stanley Cup, but like Neil Smith and his 1994 Cup, it will be significantly tarnished by the years that followed – including this one, unless the Devils can do what they’ve never done before.

They will be trying to start making history in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final here tonight. They have never survived a 3-1 series deficit. Ouster would be shameful, but triumph would be glorious.

Reputations are at stake, their own, and that of Larry Robinson.

They will be playing to vindicate Lou Lamoriello’s again-dubious late-season moves, of waiting until spring to fire Robbie Ftorek, giving Robinson eight games to right the ship, trading depth for Alexander Mogilny instead of Mark Messier, getting nothing worthwhile for Lyle Odelein, and over-valuing Vladimir Malakhovitup.

They should be playing for McMullen. Someone else probably would have put a team in the Meadowlands if he hadn’t, but he did it, and ate the losses. The most worthy and admirable aspect of his gentleman/businessman’s ownership is that he genuinely loved the team, there’s no denying that, and 25 other fan bases wish their owners did so. Another vestige of single ownership is vanishing into the maze of corporate logos, and by the way, another loss might mercifully mean the end of the current Devil logo.

Another loss could also mean the end of some Devil careers, especially with new owners arriving to see a five-year catalogue of failure. Franchise players whose playoff reputations have suffered the past few years could find their security shaken.

“Anything, anyone. With the change of ownership there could be a lot of changes. We don’t know,” Martin Brodeur said. “Facing our last defeat, you can’t consider anything about the future.

“My life could change. I don’t think about that.”

Instead, the issue is simple survival.

“You just don’t want to die. That’s the attitude you take,” Brodeur said. “We took some great steps this season, but now we’re one loss away from erasing two great series. The guys want to give it one last shot. After that, we’ll see. But for us, there’s nothing but the present.”

They can be expected to resist extinction fiercely tonight. They will probably play with the desire and determination that would have put them in the driver’s seat, had they done so in the past three games. Now they are reduced to hoping it isn’t too late.

“What’s going to go on a month or two down the road, we can’t worry about,” Randy McKay said. “If you worry about it too much, it takes you away from the job at hand.”

The immediate task is to not lose again this week, starting tonight.

“I’d be upset at one more loss, just because of the potential we have,” McKay said. “If we play somewhere close to our potential, we can come back.”

Blistered by Robinson after their 3-1 loss Saturday, there was no time for bruised egos or shock repair.

“Stranger things have happened,” Ken Daneyko said. “If we win the hockey game, it changes our whole mentality. It’s about winning one hockey game, and that doesn’t seem like such a feat.

“If we’re more determined than the Flyers, we’re going to extend it to Game 6.”

They will be trying to force the final tally book to remain open, at least for one more game, and then another. They will only manage that by performing deeds worth recording, by writing some history themselves.

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Devils have not lost three straight playoff games since losing four straight to the 1997 Rangers, when they also won the opener … Robinson stressed getting players in front of rookie goalie Brian Boucher and grabbing rebounds … Flyers are 5-3 at home with only a 22-21 goal differential, while Devils are 5-2 on the road, with a 19-12 edge.