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Devils coach: ‘You have two choices: you roll over and die or you get up tomorrow’

Stanley Cup Finals Devils Kings Hockey

New Jersey Devils coach Peter DeBoer answers questions from the media during a news conference at the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals, Tuesday, June 5, 2012, in Los Angeles. The Devils trail the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 in the best-of-seven games series. Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

AP

The New Jersey Devils managed to get back into a game that started off 4-0 on Wednesday, eventually losing to the Boston Bruins 5-4. Moral victories aside, the team’s on an eight-game losing streak, prompting head coach Peter DeBoer to demand more fight from the team, as he told The Bergen Record’s Tom Gulitti.

“You know the spot you’re in and you have two choices – you roll over and die or you get up tomorrow and you find a way to turn one win into six or seven or whatever it’s going to take,” DeBoer said.

Glad you (kind of) asked, coach.

Sports Club Stats’ numbers indicate that the Devils would have to put the following type of run together to have better than a coin flip’s chance of making the 2013 playoffs:*

6-2-0 finish: 56.5 percent chance.
5-0-3 finish: 75.1 percent chance
6-1-1 finish: 80.3 percent chance

To save you a click or three, here’s the team’s remaining schedule:

Friday: home vs. Ottawa
April 15: at Toronto
April 18: at Philadelphia
April 20: home vs. Florida
April 21: at New York Rangers
April 23: home vs. Montreal
April 25: home vs. Pittsburgh
April 27: home vs. New York Rangers

Surely the Rangers wouldn’t want to spoil the Devils’ playoff bid if it came down to it, would they?

* - Then again, some Devils fans might be crossing their fingers for them to lose as many games as possible considering how much the team seems to depend upon Ilya Kovalchuk.