Bob Duff

One of the first thoughts that crossed the mind of Scott Gomez after he left the New Jersey Devils and signed as a free agent with the hated New York Rangers was what would it be like to skate against the Devils in the colors of the Broadway Blueshirts?

If the first night of Eastern Conference action Wednesday during hockey's second season taught us anything, it's that you can go home again — even if you're not welcome — and that the Pittsburgh Penguins just might be the ready for prime-time players that they so painfully weren't a season ago.

In his first Stanley Cup playoff game as a visitor to New Jersey, Gomez, who won Stanley Cups with the Devils in 2000 and 2003, figured in three of the goals as the Rangers dumped the Devils 4-1 in the first playoff game at the Prudential Center and immediately grabbed home-ice advantage away from the team the dominated all regular season, going 7-0-1 and allowing a mere 10 New Jersey goals.

"I'm public enemy No. 1 now," said Gomez, who assisted on goals by Brendan Shanahan, Ryan Callahan and Sean Avery and was booed by his former home fans every time he touched the puck as if the Devils fans were jilted lovers cast adrift by their former beau.

"It is what it is," Gomez said. "The fans are passionate over there."

For Gomez, it was the perfect beginning to his first postseason as a Ranger after and up-and-down regular season with the club.

He was paired with Jaromir Jagr in training camp and the preseason, but when they failed to develop any chemistry, they were split up at the start of the season.

"It's one of those things, when we started off in the beginning, we were so off page or off mark," Gomez said. "But I've gone through that before with (Alexander) Mogilny and others."

The two reunited later into the season and enjoyed success as Gomez finished as the Rangers' second-leading scorer with 70 points, including a team-high 54 assists, good for 12th overall in the NHL.

Wednesday, while Jagr worked in a unit with Martin Straka and Brandon Dubinsky, Gomez skated between a pair of ex-Detroit Red Wings — the veteran Shanahan and the irascible Avery.

"I think when he's in the lineup, for one, if we're on the road, everyone in the building hates him," Gomez said of Avery.

Not on this night, though. The venom was saved for Gomez, and he fed off of the disdain that was sent in his direction, understanding that it will continue to be aimed toward him during each game in the series that's played in New Jersey.

Gomez attempted to downplay the intensity of playing against his old club and many close friends — "It doesn't matter who's in the way," he claimed — but understands that his presence will give this series an additional undercurrent of emotion, especially if he continues to give it to the Devils like he did in Game 1.

"It's probably pretty hot right now with the new rink and me coming over here," Gomez said of the rivalry. "It should be good for hockey. We'll see what happens."

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The Rangers were a far cry from the team that so meekly surrendered to the Devils in a four-game sweep two springs ago, being outscored 17-4. As were the Penguins, who completely obliterated an Ottawa Senators club that entered the playoffs looking dysfunctional and did nothing to quell the theory that they will exit from the postseason post haste.

Already without three injured regulars — captain Daniel Alfredsson and forwards Chris Kelly and Mike Fisher, the Senators lost shutdown defenseman Anton Volchenkov for the majority of the game after he was cut in the forehead by a shot taken by Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin.

A year ago, Senators fans feared that Ottawa's inability to land rugged veteran forward Gary Roberts at the trade deadline — he was acquired by Pittsburgh instead — would scuttle their Stanley Cup dreams.

When they pushed aside Pittsburgh easily in a five-game opening-round series, the fears were quelled. But Ottawa fans were welcomed back to their nightmare Wednesday, as Roberts, who turns 42 next month, scored twice — one fewer goal than he scored all season.

Gomez may be Public Enemy No. 1 in New Jersey for chasing the money and bright lights of Broadway, but Roberts is a boogeyman in Ottawa with good reason. He was an integral part of the Toronto Maple Leafs teams that banished the Senators from the playoffs three times between 2001-04.

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