Devils pummel Rangers; Avalanche stun Stars

New York's Jaromir Jagr left the game with an injury.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The start of the Stanley Cup playoffs did nothing to slow down the New Jersey Devils or pick up the New York Rangers.
Patrik Elias scored two of New Jersey's team-record five power-play goals and the Devils earned their 12th straight victory by beating the Rangers 6-1 Saturday in the opener of the Eastern Conference series.
Scott Gomez, Brian Rafalski and Jamie Langenbrunner also scored with a man advantage.
New York, which lost its final five games of the regular season to allow the Devils to win the Atlantic Division on the last day, tied it 1-1 on rookie Petr Prucha's first-period, power-play goal. But the Rangers, playing their first postseason game since 1997, were hurt by a slew of penalties in the second and third.
The Rangers took 13 penalties in all.
Lundqvist shelled
Elias gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead during New York's first infraction, and Gomez and defenseman Ken Klee beat Rangers rookie goalie Henrik Lundqvist in the second. Rafalski, Langenbrunner and Elias made it a blowout in the third.
The final New Jersey goal, scored with 4:26 remaining, might prove way more costly to New York than just on the scoreboard. Right after Elias scored, Rangers leading scorer Jaromir Jagr was helped to the dressing room with an apparent leg injury.
Klee's goal that made it 3-1 with 2:50 left in the second period missed being a man-advantage tally by one second. Rafalski stretched the lead to three 53 seconds into the third period, 21 seconds after Jagr was sent off for hooking. Langenbrunner netted the Devils' fifth goal at 8:45.
Not only did the penalties give the Devils opportunities to score, but they also kept Jagr planted on the Rangers' bench for long stretches of time.
Martin Brodeur made 29 saves in his 134th consecutive postseason start in goal for the Devils. He will break Patrick Roy's league record of 136 if he begins the next three games of this series.
The Devils will have a chance to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series at home on Monday night.
Gomez snapped the 1-1 tie at 7:48 of the second by converting Brian Gionta's pass into an open right side of the net. Klee fired a shot from the blue line that hit a Ranger in front and fluttered past Lundqvist.
Avalanche 5, Stars 2
DALLAS -- Rob Blake and John-Michael Liles scored power-play goals 2:04 apart in the second period and seventh-seeded Colorado overcame an early 2-0 deficit to win Game 1 of the Western Conference series.
Colorado cut the 2-0 deficit in half before the end of the first period, and had three goals in the second. Rookie winger Wojtek Wolski tied it at 2 before Blake and Liles scored. Milan Hejduk and Brett Clark also scored for the Avalanche.
Joe Sakic, the Avs' captain and leading scorer, had two assists, and Jose Theodore stopped 16 shots. Bill Guerin and Brenden Morrow scored for Dallas.
Game 2 is Monday night.
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