The Ottawa Senators spoiled the New Jersey Devils’ first game in the new Prudential Center, scoring three times in the third period in a 4-1 victory Saturday night.

Brian Gionta scored on a deflection for the Devils, who played their first nine games on the road while waiting for the $380-million US arena to be completed.

Ottawa Senators goaltender Martin Gerber, right, makes a save on a shot by New Jersey Devils’ John Madden in the first period of their game on Saturday.
(Bill Kostroun/Associated Press)

New Jersey won three of those games and continued to struggle Saturday night against Ottawa (9-1), which leads the Northeast Division.

Martin Gerber made 25 saves for Ottawa, while Martin Brodeur stopped 29 shots for New Jersey.

Ottawa snapped a 1-1 tie early in the third period when Chris Kelly picked up a loose puck behind the net and fed Shean Donovan, who beat Brodeur from in close. Mike Fisher added an insurance goal with 6:26 left, and Daniel Alfredsson scored into an empty net with 1.1 seconds left.

For a while it looked as though the new 10-metre, 29,000-kilogram scoreboard wouldn’t get much of a workout as neither team scored in the first period, though the Devils outshot the visitors 18-5.

Ottawa’s Andrej Meszaros scored the arena’s first goal five minutes into the second period with a slapshot from just inside the blue-line that squeezed through a crowd in front to beat Brodeur.

The goal brought a smattering of boos from the restless crowd, but those turned to cheers nine minutes later when Gionta tied it.

Gionta took a pass from Patrik Elias on the right wing and centred a pass for Travis Zajac that Gerber knocked away only to have it deflect off the skate of defenceman Anton Volchenkov and into the net.

The power-play goal was the first allowed on the road by the Senators this season. Entering the evening, they were 16-for-16 killing penalties.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman joined Devils chairman and owner Jeff Vanderbeek, Mayor Cory A. Booker and former Devils star Scott Stevens for a pre-game ceremony at centre ice.

Talking to reporters later, Bettman called the Prudential Center “a truly spectacular arena” and then took a dig at the Devils’ former home at the Meadowlands, calling it “a building with no soul that was in the middle of a parking lot.”

With the new building not projected to be ready for the start of the NHL season, the Devils started the season on the road, losing six of the nine games and being shut out three times.

The road trip matched the longest in NHL history to start a season, tying Quebec (1980-81) and Carolina (1999-2000), both of whom were also moving into new facilities.

The Devils played the past 25 years at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, about 20 kilometres from Newark.

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Tags: spoil, Devils, debut, Prudential, Center

Posted on October 28th, 2007 by Klaus Roe
Filed under: Fun and Games