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Devils begin final postseason at Continental Airlines Arena

Apr 12, 2007 - 2:52 PM Tampa Bay (44-33-5) at New Jersey (49-24-9) 7:30 pm EDT Eastern Conference quarterfinals

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Continental Airlines Arena has hosted many great moments for the New Jersey Devils. The team is hoping it can provide one more happy memory before moving out.

The Devils begin the final postseason in their home arena Thursday when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game One of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

New Jersey has won three Stanley Cup championships in the last 11 seasons, with the last one being clinched in East Rutherford in 2003. But they only have one more chance to recapture that magic in the Meadowlands, as their new home - the Prudential Center - in Newark is scheduled to be ready for the start of the 2007-08 campaign.

The second-seeded Devils also are hoping for a repeat of their 2000 season, when general manager Lou Lamoriello fired coach Robbie Ftorek with only a handful of regular-season games left and replaced him with Larry Robinson, who guided the team to a championship. But this time, Lamoriello himself took over the reins after dismissing Claude Julien with only three contests remaining.

The seventh-seeded Lightning are two seasons removed from winning their first Stanley Cup. They lost to Ottawa in the quarterfinals last season.

Tampa Bay still has plenty of firepower remaining from the 2004 team as Vincent Lecavalier (108 points) and Martin St. Louis (102) points each reached the century mark in points this season.

New Jersey figures to have a huge advantage in goal with two-time Vezina Trophy winner Martin Brodeur, who set a single-season record of 48 wins and a league-leading 12 shutouts.

Brodeur, who has backstopped the Devils to all three of their titles, owns an 89-64 record with a 1.89 GAA and 21 shutouts in 153 career playoff games.

In goal for the Lightning will be Johan Holmqvist, who will be making his postseason debut.

The Lightning did win three of four regular-season meetings from the Devils, holding them to six goals.