It's a rarity for Devils coach Pete DeBoer to address his players after a game or on a flight back home following a road match.



But he did just that after Saturday night's Game 5 loss in Florida which put the Devils on the brink of playoff elimination.



"I did address them at the airport before we got on the plane," DeBoer confirmed.



Would he reveal what he said?



"No," DeBoer answered.



Did he sense that his players were disappointed or angry?



"I got that sense," he said.

* * *

Captain Zach Parise said the Devils are facing the kind of test any winning team must go through.



"No team is going to go through and win the Stanley Cup without finding themselves in a tough situation," Parise noted. "Every team is really good now. There is very rarely a sweep anymore. Everyone is tough to play against. There are no easy games and no easy series.



"You're going to find yourself, one time or another, in a tough spot and we're in that spot right now. So we have to have a great game on Tuesday."

* * *

DeBoer said he will not make any changes at this point in the series with the Devils trailing, 3-2.



"We're 60 minutes removed from one of our best games of the season—Game 4, a 4-0 win at home where we dominated in almost every area," the coach said. "We're not changing anything.



"Whenever we've been in a tough spot this year we've come out swinging. I do anticipate that type of response."

* * *

There are strong suggestions that both Ilya Kovalchuk and David Clarkson are dealing with significant injuries, possibly groin problems.

DEVILS IN THE PLAYOFFS

• Devils shut out by Panthers, 3-0

• Is Ilya Kovalchuk playing with a serious injury?

• Devils have not won final two games of a playoff series since 2007



DeBoer stressed that injuries have not been a factor in this series.



"If (injuries do) change a series, you're not deep enough to go where you want to go anyway," DeBoer said. "I don't believe we're any more beat up than anybody else this time of year. Injuries are a fact of life in the NHL. You deal with it all year and you deal with it in the playoffs. It's not a factor."



Goalie Martin Brodeur said: "Usually it's not a factor in the first round as much. The playoffs are hard. Down the stretch you're battling for spots and try to play a full lineup. Guys are playing with little nagging injuries. Then you get to the intensity of the playoffs and injuries sometimes don't heal themselves because there is not much time to rest. You can't take days off as much as you'd like."



They were give a day off today.

Parise spoke of the Devils' compete level in Game 5 and DeBoer addressed the issue.



"We haven't made many nights this year where we've been out-competed for sections of the game. I think that did happen last night. I agree with Zach," DeBoer said. "We've got to fix that. Part of that is Florida played with some real desperation in their game. And, for some reason, we didn't. I'm sure we'll see it now."



Are the Panthers frustrating to play against?



"I don't think they're frustrating to play against. I think in Game 6 they were frustrating to play against because they won most of the battles. I don't think that's been the case in the series."

How do the Devils generate more offense?



"We can forecheck better," Zach Parise said. "That's where we get a lot of chances. We didn't forecheck as well as a five-man unit. Wer had a lot of pucks that went through (goalie Jose Theodore) that trickled just wide. We were close on a lot of chances. The puck just did not want to go in for us last night when we needed it to the most."

Before Game 5 the Devils needed to win two game to advance. They still need to win two games, but their margin for error has diminished.



"All that it's done is you can't have another game like that. Wer know that," DeBoer said. "We've got to bring our best game to the table here on Tuesday and then do it again on Thursday in order to keep moving forward. We don't have that luxury anymore and that's what the playoffs are about."



Brodeur said: "We're playing this game at home. We're stuck with having to win every game the rest of the way (in this series). That's not the greatest scenario we'd like to have, but this is what it is. We have to take advantage of us being home. Both teams have played well in their own building."

The Devils haven't won two straight playoff games since winning the last three against Tampa Bay in the 2007 Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

"It's surprising when you hear these kind of stats," Brodeur said. "But there's been a big turnaround (turnover) in this organization maybe after the lockout. We changed a lot of the players and the game has also changed. We're not the only team in that situation. We're fortunate that we've on;y missed the playoffs once in all these years.



"We're getting chances to do something great. We haven't produced when the opportunity came but we're looking to do better this time around and we're still alive."

Rich Chere: rchere@starledger.com; twitter.com/Ledger_NJDevils