DING DING DING! Round 1 of Devils vs. Rangers about to begin.

No Sean Avery tonight, and a more cuddly, controlled verson of Andrew Peters to make an apperance tonight, so the fisticuffs may wait until later in the season, but the action is moving fast and furious from the opening whistle.

The Devils score less than two minutes in, when Jay Pandolfo controlled the puck off the boards and found Rob Niedermeyer in the right faceoff circle, and Niedermeyer one-timed it into the upper right corner of the net.

The Rangers took a timeout after the Devils earned another shot on goal, and immediately took a 2 minute interference penalty. The Devils look like a completely different team than Saturday’s version, and we’re only 2 minutes in.

The Rangers kill the penalty, but the momentum is still with the Devils. And our first look at Pikkarainen, the Devils biggest offseason acquisition, is in the penalty box. 2 min for hooking. Awesome. Brodeur makes a save on his right side to start the PK.

Michael Del Zotto, one of the youngins playing for the Rangers this season, scored on a wide open rebound from the left side of the ice off of a shot by Vinny Prospal.  First power play goal given up by the Devils this season, and second goal of the season for Del Zotto. FANTASY HOCKEY TIP: Pick up Del Zotto. Now. On an offensively-challenged squad, he may be the scoring leader sooner rather than later.

Devils kill a second penalty very aggressively, and in turn create a penalty on the Rangers. Time to see if the Devils power play is less anemic than its’ Saturday version. With one shot on goal in the fifrst 20 seconds, the answer is yes.

Just as I was telling my colleague Denis Gorman that I didn’t like the Devils new power play set up, with both Zajac and Clarkson crashing the net, Clarkson gets a pass from Parise down low, and makes a sweet backhand, no-look pass to Zajac on the right side of the net. Zajac threw the puck into the upper right hand corner of the net to regain the Devils’ lead.

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Well, I thought it would be bad karma to leave the last post before tonight’s game a review of Game 7.
The Devils have a new coach, a new team and a new season to race for the Cup. It begins tonight when the Devils play host to the Rangers (can you think of a better preseason opener? I cant.) at 7 p.m. Eastern.
Also, this is a new season for “The Devils Made Me Do It.” I’m hoping to have a lot more content, and better quality content, for Devils fans out there. It’s an exciting time to be a hockey fan!
But first, I need a haircut and some triple A batteries for my voice recorder.
Pre-season isn’t just a warm up for the athletes, you know.
I’ll be back tonight from the Prudential Center with more pre-game, in-game, and post-game info on the kickoff to the Devils’ season!

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David Clarkson grabbed Sean Avery by the jersey, threw him to the ice, picked him up and threw him down again. It was the perfect example of how the Devils’ frustrating lack of execution added to the calm superiority of the Rangers Monday night.
Clarkson left the game, and Avery spent two minute in the box for reasons no one can figure out, since he didn’t retaliate.
The box score reads roughing, but it should say, “Sean Avery- 2:00 (Bad Reputation).

In a 3-0 shelling, the Devils looked flat, lifeless and disinterested. Awesome way to head into the playoffs, guys.

Coach Brent Sutter swore up a storm during a post game interviewed, getting more animated than he’s been all season. Almost 2 minutes into answering a question, he all of the sudden raised the volume of his voice and said, for the first time, the team looked like they did at the end of last season, when a five-game skid translated into an early playoff exit. The team was trying to “flip a switch” to get into playoff mode. I didn’t work last year, and it won’t work this year.

Brandon Dubinsky scored on his own rebound 4 minutes into the second period of the game, and it felt like that would be the end of the Devils chances. The offense could not get anything together, making one-and-done offensive attempts and settling to clear the puck rather than push it. The power play was 0-2, 2-22 in the last six games, and by the end of the game it seemed unnecessary to exert the effort to keep the puck in the offensive zone.

I feel bad for the Devils fans that paid to see that game. There was no heart, no effort and despite a solid effort by Martin Brodeur, the Rangers flat out embarrassed the Devils. Two weeks from now, if these two teams meet again in the first round of the playoffs, expect the same result if the same effort is applied.

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I feel completely overwhelmed at this point. As I sit write this, we are less than five minutes into the game and the Devils are up 2-0. It started with a goal by Zach Parise 18 seconds into the game off of a feed from Jamie Langenbrunner. It’s Parise’s 40th goal of the season. Then, at 2:56, John Madden tipped in a pass from Oduya in between the goalies legs.  I haven’t even had a chance to learn how to spell the goalie’s name, who is in his second career NHL game, much less type. SO we’re starting the live blog now, at 6:30 into the first period.

6:55- First media time out in the game. It’s been four minutes since the last goal, the longest drought of the game. Coach Sutter must be concerned. Oh, and the Coyote’s goalie is Johs Tordjman, for accuracy’s sake.

9:34- The Coyotes caught  Marty out of place. Collin White tried to clear the zone with his skate on a double-minor penalty to Zubs, but recently former-Flyer Scottie Upshall grabbed the puck and put it in the open net. No shut out tonight, but the Devils are still manhandling the Coyotes without even trying.

End of the First period (no really, nothing else happened during the period), Devils 2, Coyotes 1. Shots on Goal- Devils 16, Coyotes 5.

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Announced at 12:14 today, Sean Avery is once again a New York Ranger.
A thorn in the Devils’ side for several years, Avery has completed his anger-management treatment as well as a stint with the Hartford Wolfpack and will be back with the Rangers later this week.
In related news, Rangers coach John Tortorella put two separate want ads in the paper today. The first was for a therapist specializing in troubled children, and the second was for a veteran hockey player with the patience of a saint. Tortorella can be reached at Madison Square Garden with any responses.

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The bad news is, the Capitals added an empty netter. The good news is … well … the Rangers lost.

Going into the locker room after the game, everyone looked like the team puppy was run over. Hey guys, you lost one game after winning eight - it is not the end of the world. Sure the two points to Washington was big, but there’s still a lot of hockey to be played. I guess I respect a team that takes every loss so seriously. But I hope they don’t dwell on it too long. They’ve got to exact revenge against Atlanta on Friday.

Speaking of the locker room, I was wondering about what the guys thought about the line change-ups affecting chemistry.  I decided to ask John Madden, and immediately regretted my decision. If you could see the look in the man’s eyes, I’m pretty sure he was about to remove an appendage if I tried to ask a follow up. Take a listen:

Mad Dog bares his teeth

Keep checking in with “The Devils Made Me Do It” this week for audio clips from Shanny and insight into the Trenton Devils, one of the club’s farm teams. Until then, stay classy, hockey fans.

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