With playoffs clinched, Devils still battling for positioning

ELMONT, N.Y. — The Devils enjoyed the fact that they had clinched the postseason for the first time since 2018 over the weekend. But there was no big celebration over it after they defeated the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.

“Maybe a couple of little celebrations, little things around the room and stuff like that,” Damon Severson said after the Devils’ morning skate on Long Island Monday. “But nothing special. It’s not really the prize we want to win is to clinch the playoffs. We want to win the ultimate prize at the very, very end of the season.”

The Devils managed to get over the first hurdle with a few games left on the schedule and without having to go through any late-season dramatics. Following Monday’s game with the Islanders, New Jersey has eight games left on their calendar.

However, that doesn’t mean the Devils can just put things on cruise control for the rest of the season. Between facing the Islanders on Monday night, the Rangers on Thursday and Buffalo, Boston and Washington down the stretch, they have a tough schedule ahead.

And head coach Lindy Ruff wants to see his team still grow in certain areas.

“I think the one thing you want to do is you want to maintain a high level of playing hockey,” Ruff said. “Don’t want to be sloppy. You want to play your game, you want to make sure you’re determined in all three zones. You want to win games. You’re going to play them. You got to play to win and you got to keep your level of compete real high.”

The Devils are also still in a fierce battle for postseason positioning with the Carolina Hurricanes. New Jersey had been just three points back of Carolina for first in the Metropolitan Division going into Monday’s game with the Islanders and held a four-point lead over the Rangers, who sat in third.

Coincidentally, with New Jersey facing both local teams this week, it could serve as a postseason preview of sorts depending on how the standings shake out. If they remain as they are, the Devils would face their Manhattan rivals in the first round with New Jersey getting the home-ice advantage.

If the Devils catch the Hurricanes, it could mean a battle with the Islanders, which would be the first time they’d see the Isles in the playoffs since 1988.

“Just just the rivalry obviously with these teams being in such close proximity to one another and to us and it’s pretty rare,” Severson said about seeing both the Islanders and Rangers this week. “We’re looking forward to the challenge. Obviously, the Rangers are right behind us. They’ve been on our heels the whole season. The Islanders are a team that, you know, they’ve been battling for their wild card spots and they’ve kind of had their ups and downs as well. So we got to be prepared to play tonight and play the islanders deal with them first and then we’ll move on to the Rangers and move of with our schedule from there.”