Someone always pays, and it has already begun with the Devils.
Larry Robinson is fully aware that the chain of responsibility rises through him. If he cannot lift the Devils, nearly consecutive Stanley Cup champs, from their four-loss debacle of a start, his boss will begin trading, then firing, fair or not.
That’s how he landed his current job, when Lou Lamoriello suddenly fired Robbie Ftorek while the Devils were still leading the Eastern Conference with eight games left in the 1999-2000 season.
“What you’re talking about will come around if we don’t do what we’re supposed to do,” Robinson told The Post. “You have a job to do, and that’s to get the players to do the best they can.
“If they’re capable of doing it and they don’t, then that’s your fault. If they’re not capable of doing it and you’re giving them direction, that’s their fault.”
Or, actually the fault of the team manager, the guy who let the leading goal-scorer walk and then claimed the team would do just fine without Alexander Mogilny. But as CEO and part-owner of the Devils, Lamoriello would probably have to fire himself, and that’s not part of the program.
Robinson lifted the team to the Stanley Cup with little time to make changes in 2000, and he brought that squad to a 3-2 lead in the finals last spring, before they choked dynasty away. Clearly, he can do it when it can be done.
Whether this current edition of the Devils can do it is the real question, but with Lamoriello in charge, it’s not the question that will be answered. The Devils will have to start winning, or players will be traded and then, coaches fired. Pittsburgh has already gassed Ivan Hlinka. So Robinson must get victories out of this crew.
Towards that end, Robinson made good on his promises to bench players for taking needless penalties, benching Scott Gomez and Jason Arnott during Wednesday’s 4-3 OT loss to the Rangers at the Garden.
He had the opportunity to bench Petr Sykora last night when the powerful Sharks visited the Meadowlands. Sykora took a needless penalty in overtime that gave Theo Fleury the opportunity for the power-play winner.
“Maybe I’m a healthy scratch tonight,” Sykora said, although he was expected to be in last night’s lineup. “It’s not like I’m not trying out there.”
Sykora said Robinson “wasn’t happy,” with the overtime penalty he took in the offensive zone but complained that he was the victim of a dive by Petr Nedved, although Sykora dove for a penalty in the third period himself.
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Devils were awaiting word on tests on right knee of Turner Stevenson, injured Wednesday at the Garden. Early indications were that Stevenson suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament, although it did not appear to be completely torn. . . . Pierre Dagenais was expected to take Stevenson’s spot in the lineup, while Mike Commodore’s assignment Wednesday to Albany was quickly reversed on the expectation that Stevenson would be placed on IR. . . . Devils play host to Ottawa tomorrow.