EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker,
edited) -- The New Jersey Devils were
11-2-2 in their first 15 at homeand
Edmonton was 1-11-3 in its first 15 road
games, but the numbers meant little, as
the Devils lost 3-1.

Devereaux took a pass from Georges Laraque,
who was behind the net, and pounded his own
rebound past Martin Brodeur's right skate
from the front right side of the net 6:45
into the game.

With 9:55 left in the first period, Moreau
stormed down the left side of the slot and
got to a sharp angle before beating Brodeur
to the far side, banking in the puck off
the right goalpost. Beranek capped the
burst with 5:36 left in the period when he
beat Broduer to the glove side with a wrist
shot from the outside edge of the left
faceoff circle.

"There is no reason why a shot like that
should beat me," Brodeur said.

"They jumped out with three goals in the
first period," Devils coach Robbie Ftorek
said. "And we weren't playing the way we
should be. Then we work hard for 40
minutes, but it's a 60-minute game. We were
trying to chase them all the time and we
can't play chase hockey." "We didn't come
out at all," Brodeur said. "We had some bad
breaks and we weren't really ready to start
the game like they were. We got it out of
our way, but wee really couldn't get much
offensively."

The Devils scored their other goal when
Krzysztof Oliwa tallied front the bottom of
the slot with 2:57 left in the second
period, re-directing Lyle Odelein's shot
from the right point through Ranford's
pads. Had Ranford seen that the puck was
rolling slowly to the net after it found
its way through his pads, he would have had
plenty of time to corral it. But he let in
nothing else, stopping Brendan Morrison
alone in front on New Jersey's best chance
in the third period.

With eight minutes remaining in the game,
New Jersey had a goal disallowed, as Brian
Rafalski was ruled to have batted in the
puck with a high stick.

Brodeur finished with 20 saves, including
10 in the three-goal first period.

The Devils play again on Tuesday, 12/14, as
they host the L.A. Kings. Metro TV and WABC