NEWARK, N.J. — Zach Parise is a little nervous. He admits it.
"I know think you really know what it's like until you've actually played in Game 7," the Devils' star forward said today. "It's on a different stage, a different game.
"It'll be fun. Little nervous right now."
Parise, a 45-goal scorer in the regular season, scored in each of the first three games of the playoff series with the Canes and added two assists. But he does not have a point in the last three games.
"It's not something that concerns me," Parise said. "I know that I, and we as a line, and everybody needs to show up and play tonight.
"We've had some scoring chances. I'm not gripping the stick tight at all."
Parise often has been faced with Canes defensemen Tim Gleason and Joe Corvo. Gleason has the strength to body up on the 5-11, 190-pound Parise and Corvo the speed to skate with him, but the Canes have been more physical with Parise in recent games — and effectively so.
"That's fine," Parise said. "That's something you have to expect to happen.
"Like I said before, we'll find ways around it."
Devils coach Brent Sutter said he's expecting another exciting — if hard to predict — game.
"This is what you play for, isn't it?" he said. "It's been a great series. Somewhat, this series has been all over the map, but it has been an exciting series and it comes down to one game."
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at 
