NEWARK – The New Jersey Devils are starting to make you wonder. Yes, it’s only the middle of December. And yes, the season isn’t even halfway through yet, with meaningful playoff hockey still months away. But, it’s starting to seem like a foregone conclusion they’ll be playing when those games start. And that’s not a conclusion drawn just after their 4-1 win over a competitive, but undermanned Chicago Blackhawks team at the Prudential Center on Saturday afternoon that at least temporarily catapulted them back on top of the Metropolitan Division standings. It’s a recent body of work, one in which they’ve taken five out of a possible six points over their last three games, and the way they’ve been doing it; first-year head coach Sheldon Keefe’s Devils have held their opponents to less than 20 shots on goal in each of those contests. They’re good. Stanley Cup contender-level good, at least right now. They’re everything the team across the river was supposed to be, but with far, far less fanfare. So, you start to wonder. Just how good can they be? Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to start dreaming big. Really big. The current group is using a recipe that, in large part, helped put up the three Cup banners that were raised to the rafters in the Meadowlands and eventually moved to Newark. They’re doing it through defense-first. If you ask Keefe, it can be even better than it looked on Saturday, too. “For me, quite honestly, I think the chances against are going to look worse than the shot total tonight and there were elements of the game that I didn’t like,” said Keefe, whose team allowed just 17 shots on goal against the Blackhawks on Saturday, including just two in the first period. “But yeah, it’s a positive thing. We’re not overwhelming our goaltender, and he’s making saves for us, and made some for us tonight…for the most part, we didn’t allow them to overwhelm us. No long stretches in our zone, which is really good. That’s where we felt we improved the most.” Over those last three games — which include a 2-1 overtime loss to Toronto, a 3-1 win over an LA Kings team that just blew out the Rangers on Saturday afternoon and this most recent triumph over the Blackhawks—– New Jersey has surrendered just 48 shots on goal, a number reflective of numerous steps taken to address what was one of the most porous back ends in the league just last season. New additions Brett Pesce, Jonathan Kovacevic and Brenden Dillon have complemented stalwarts Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler well, while second-year blueliner Luke Hughes, still only 21 years old, has made significant strides as a defender after a rough learning curve last year. But, the biggest turnaround may have come in goal, where returning Jake Allen has paired with the team’s biggest offseason acquisition, Jacob Markstrom, to form arguably one of the top tandems in the league thus far.  Markstrom, picked up from the Calgary Flames this summer, is currently sixth in the league with a 2.35 goals against average, and would be set to be the workhorse on any potential postseason run. “(He’s) super important, we’re going to do everything we can to help him out there to block shots and help him see the puck,” said Devils forward Jesper Bratt. “Obviously, knowing that he’s back there giving us those saves when we need them when there’s a breakdown, it’s huge. He gives us a lot of confidence, and he’s been playing great for us.”