Ray Stubblebine / Reuters

New Jersey's Patrik Elias, rear, hugs defenseman Ken Klee after a goal. The Devils beat the Rangers 6-1 in their playoff opener on Saturday.

Klee’s goal that made it 3-1 with 2:50 left in the second period missed being a man-advantage tally by two seconds. 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. Devils forward Jay Pandolfo didn’t have to worry about shadowing the league’s second-leading scorer when the Czech star was safely off ice.

Martin Brodeur made 29 saves in his 134th consecutive postseason start for the Devils. He will break Patrick Roy’s league record of 136 if he starts the next three games of this series.

By then he might also accomplish one goal that has eluded him in his brilliant career that includes three Stanley Cup titles and two Vezina Trophies. Brodeur and the Devils have never beaten the Rangers in the playoffs, losing the first three series.

“We’re going to face a different club,” Gomez said. “They got a lot of young guys who got their first taste of it. We’ve got to be ready for that on Monday night.”

The Devils made up a 19-point deficit and passed both the Rangers and Flyers in the Atlantic Division on the strength of their 11-game winning streak — the longest to end a season in NHL history.

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Although the crowd was largely in favor of the hometown Devils, many Rangers fans also were in attendance. After Lundqvist made a nice save to keep the game tied in the first period, alternating cheers of “Hen-rik” and “Let’s Go Rangers” rained down.

Those chants were all gone by the time Rafalski made it 4-1. The Devils rooters took back their building and serenaded Lundqvist — the Olympic gold-medal winning goalie for Sweden — with taunts of “Mar-ty’s Better.”

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“I won’t say I was struggling but I was having a hard time to see the puck,” Lundqvist said. “A lot of pucks that went in I never saw. I don’t know why.”

Notes: New Jersey D Colin White didn’t play after the 17-minute mark of the first period. He sustained a groin injury in the season finale and was only 50-50 to suit up for Game 1. ... Rangers C Steve Rucchin was back in the lineup after missing seven games with a broken bone in his right foot.

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'Pressure is a good thing'

  Henrik Lundqvist talks about the pressure of the Stanley Cup playoffs and how he prepares, while his Rangers teammates talk about how the star goalie keeps them together.

NHL.com: Lundqvist can only control task at hand

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