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Belief.
It's a simple word, one that's defined as "confidence, faith or trust." A simple word, yet one that could become the backbone to the New Jersey Devils taking yet another step forward to coming back against the Los Angeles Kings.
New Jersey still remains perilously on the brink of elimination. The Kings are a perfect 10-0 on the road this postseason, and threaten to break the record for most road wins, a mark held by two previous Devils teams. No team has pushed them past five games in a series, and they still need just one win to take home the team's first Stanley Cup championship.
The Devils are shooting to become the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to climb out an 0-3 hole and win the Stanley Cup championship. This marks the 70th year of that unbelievable comeback, and Devils coach Pete DeBoer believes New Jersey could be the ones to ring in that event with style.
"You know it's going to happen again, so why not us?" DeBoer asked Tom Gulitti of The Bergen Record. "That's the approach. You're not going to go 200 years without someone else doing it. It's been long enough. It might as well be us."
While that's an understated statement of confidence, the Devils seem poised to make a miraculous push. They're 9-1 in games 4-7 of a series, including two wins over the Florida Panthers when facing elimination. After scoring just twice in 3-plus games, New Jersey beat Kings netminder Jonathan Quick twice in the third period of Game 4.
In front of their home crowd, the Devils are once again looking to beat back elimination. A win in Game 4 gave the Devils belief they could come back. Now, with yet another chance to take a step forward into history, Ilya Kovalchuk said New Jersey will play a full 60 minutes.
"We're not going to quit until the end," he told Gulitti. "We will fight until the last second."