NEWARK -- The Devils won't call Saturday's and Sunday's games against the New York Islanders do-or-die.

But they came awfully close.

"We don't want to say it, but it's a team that we're chasing," Devils forward P.A. Parenteau said. "There's other teams in between them and us right now. But this is a very, very crucial part of the season."

The Devils are four points behind the Islanders and five out of the final playoff spot. Two losses could put them in an eight-point hole, plus whatever other ground they would lose to other teams in the race.

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But coach John Hynes didn't put any dire spin on the importance of the games. At the end of the day, the Devils are playing to stay in the race.

"It's exciting. We all know where we're at in the season and the possibilities we have to accomplish some things if we do well," Hynes said. "These are two four-point games, so it's really an eight-point weekend."

Even though the Devils have been on the outside looking in of the playoff picture for a while, they knew they had four games against the Islanders waiting on the schedule. The two teams meet for the first time this season on Saturday at the Prudential Center.

"Mid-February, and up-until a week ago, we hadn't played Columbus, either. We haven't played the Islanders, and in years past it seemed we played the Islanders, Rangers, every other game," defenseman Andy Greene said. "It's very strange that we haven't played them yet, but it's good now, we get a lot of divisional games to make up some ground here.

"It can either put us right there next to them, or they separate from the pack a little bit," Greene added. "Just take Saturday night first and go from there, but kind of have to treat it as six periods of hockey against the same team."

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Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Find NJ.com Devils on Facebook.

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