Hockey News

LOWELL, Mass. - The Lowell Devils, American Hockey League affiliate of the New Jersey Devils, announced their 2008-09 regular season schedule today. The Devils will open their third season in the AHL on the road against the Providence Bruins on October 8th.

The Devils’ begin their home schedule at the Tsongas Arena on Saturday, October 11th at 7:00 p.m., when they battle the Worcester Sharks. Lowell will host 40 regular season games at home this season, including 26 weekend contests (Friday, Saturday or Sunday).

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NEW YORK (AP) -Sean Avery easily brushed off Martin Brodeur’s snub in the handshake line following the New York Rangers’ five-game, opening-round playoff win against the New Jersey Devils.

After all, there will be more goalies to antagonize in what he and the Rangers hope will be a long run through the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“We just wanted to come out and win the series,” Avery said after the Rangers’ 5-3 road win Friday night finished off the Devils in the Eastern Conference matchup. “We played well as a team, and it’s Step One of four steps.”

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NEWARK, N.J. - After five games of running into, harassing and annoying Martin Brodeur, Sean Avery took a final swipe at the New Jersey goalie after the New York Rangers eliminated the Devils in the first round of the playoffs.

Avery ripped Brodeur for his lack of sportsmanship for failing to shake his hand after the Rangers beat the Devils 5-3 to win the Eastern Conference series in five games.

Every Devils player shook Avery’s hand - although some barely looked at him - until Brodeur dropped his hand and skated past the pesky forward.

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NEWARK, N.J. - The New Jersey Devils opened the season with a new coach, a new arena and a relatively new identity.

Ending the campaign with an embarrassing first-round playoff loss to the rival New York Rangers is going to bring about more changes next year.

“It’s definitely going to be a long off-season for a lot of us,” Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. “We expected to be playing into June. This is definitely tough.

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NEWARK, N.J. - It took only two years for the New York Rangers to turn a four-game sweep into a sweet five-game payback for the New Jersey Devils.

Ushered out of their first post-season appearance in nine years by their cross-river rivals in 2006, the Rangers turned the tide and finished off the Devils with a 5-3 victory Friday night. “It is poetic justice to a degree,” Rangers coach Tom Renney said.

The Rangers rocked the New Jersey Devils’ house like no other team and rolled right into the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. They trailed for 18 seconds in the first period before scoring four straight times and then holding on.

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WORCESTER, Mass. - Despite Ryan Murphy’s marker 33 seconds into the game, the Worcester Sharks answered four straight goals to defeat the Lowell Devils, 4-1, on Saturday at the DCU Center.

The Devils gathered the early lead as Nicklas Bergfors skated the puck behind the net, reversed direction and hit Murphy in front for a forehand shot that beat Tyler Dakers to the right side.

Worcester would come back to knot the score at 13:27 when Brennan Evans worked up the near boards before feathering a backhand pass toward the crease that Dennis Packard banged by goalie Jeff Frazee.

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NEW YORK - After two home playoff losses, the New Jersey Devils didn’t sugarcoat their predicament or try to fool anyone about the trouble they were in.

Yes, two teams in NHL history have come back to win series after falling behind 3-0. But these playoff-tested, champion-laden Devils knew that if two straight losses became three in their series with the New York Rangers, their postseason time would surely run out in the first round.

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UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Never did a win over the lowly New York Islanders feel so good to the playoff-bound New Jersey Devils.

There was never a real feel that the slumping Devils would drop so far that they would miss the playoffs for the first time in 11 seasons, but knowing for sure that a spot is secure came as a bit of a relief.

Zach Parise deflected in Johnny Oduya’s shot 29 seconds into overtime for the Devils, who clinched an Eastern Conference playoff berth with a 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

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Despite missing superstar Sidney Crosby for most of the second half of the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins clinched a playoff berth and are closing in on the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Less than 24 hours after an embarrassing loss to the New York Islanders, the Penguins secured their spot in the playoffs and took a big step toward the top seed, beating the New Jersey Devils 2-0 Tuesday night behind a 31-save performance by Marc-Andre Fleury.

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NEWARK, N.J. - Kyle Okposo picked the perfect time to score his first NHL goal. He will always have the story of how he made Martin Brodeur his first victim.

“Scoring a game-winning goal against one of the best goalies in history, that’s not bad at all,” he said. “I don’t know what could be better.”

Okposo, the New York Islanders’ 19-year-old top prospect who was called up this week from the minor leagues, scored a tie-breaking power-play goal with 2:35 remaining and helped his new club beat the New Jersey Devils 3-1 on Friday night.

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