Are the Devils dead?

This series, of course, is merely half over, with the Rangers taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series after their resounding 5-1 victory Thursday night at Prudential Center.

The winner of the series needs four wins to advance to Round 2, so — technically speaking — the Devils are only half-dead.

But it looks worse than that.

Both Rangers wins came in the Devils’ house with the series now shifting to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 Saturday night and Game 4 Monday night.

The Garden faithful, having had to wait these two away games to clear their collective throats, will surely be smelling blood on the ice Saturday.

Suddenly, a series that most figured would be a long one — the winner a coin flip — looks like it could be a quick one unless the Devils find a way to untrack their star, Jack Hughes — who was rendered almost invisible Thursday.

In the span of three days, those 112 points the Devils amassed in the regular season, missing out on the Metropolitan Division title by a mere point to Carolina, mean nothing.

Nor does the fact that the Devils finished with five more points and five more wins than the Rangers, and owned a 3-0-1 record against their cross-Hudson rivals in the regular season.

None of it means a thing at the moment, with the Devils not just having been put on the back foot by the Rangers in the first two games, but on life support.

“I expect a good response,’’ Devils coach Lindy Ruff said before the game of his team coming off the Game 1 disappointment. “I really felt we did a lot of good stuff in the first game. I was excited about what I saw. We’ve just got make sure we finish.’’

Now Ruff’s team looks finished. And now Ruff is left with little choice but to shake up his lineup for Game 3.

He has to move on from starting goalie Vitek Vanecek and replace him with Akira Schmid. The Devils being down 2-0 in the series certainly isn’t all Vanecek’s fault, but against this high-powered Rangers attack, New Jersey has needed more from its goaltender.

Ruff, too, should activate Luke Hughes, the 17-year-old younger brother of Devils star Jack. Luke, like his brother, is an elusive and speedy skater, and might help wake up the Devils’ offense.

The Devils were undone by a disastrous second period Thursday, during which the Rangers turned a 1-0 deficit into a stunning 3-1 lead, two goals coming from Chris Kreider on power plays.

The Devils, with a much less playoff-tested roster than the Rangers, conceded to having the jitters early in Tuesday’s series opener, and the result — also a 5-1 Rangers victory — backed that up.

But when their winger Erik Haula beat Igor Shesterkin with a tip-in to the Rangers goalie’s right for a 1-0 lead with 8:16 remaining in the first period, his animated celebration had the feel of the Devils finally breaking through and truly shedding their playoff nerves.

New Jersey players before the game spoke about the importance of taking the lead in this game and not allowing the Rangers to front-run on them the way they did Tuesday.

“It is important to get the first goal, for sure,’’ Devils captain Nico Hischier had said. “It’s definitely harder to come back in the playoffs than it is in the regular season — especially against a [Rangers] team that has so much playoff experience. They know how to shut it down with the lead. We’re definitely looking forward to scoring the first goal.’’

Well, they did just that and it still didn’t matter.

Now what?

The Devils might not be dead yet, but they’re half dead.