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Devils continue long season-opening road trip

Oct 6, 2007 - 1:12 PM New Jersey (0-1-0) at Florida (0-1-0) 7:00 pm EDT

SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- There are plenty of positives when a new team prepares to play in a new arena. One of the negatives for the New Jersey Devils is that they don't play a home game until the season's fourth week.

The Devils will travel to the BankAtlantic Center to face the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

New Jersey is opening the season with nine straight road games before its October 27 home opener against the Ottawa Senators. The extended trip will allow enough time for the Prudential Center, the team's new arena in Newark, to be completed.

Before that happens though, New Jersey would like to hand new coach Brent Sutter his first win as the Devils coach. Sutter lost his debut Wednesday as the Devils endured a 3-1 setback to Tampa Bay.

Three-time Vezina Award winner Martin Brodeur has enjoyed facing Florida during his career, going 30-10-0 with seven ties and a 1.96 goals-against average in 47 career games against Florida.

The Panthers also came up short in their season opener, suffering a 5-2 setback on the road to the New York Rangers. Goaltender Tomas Vokoun, acquired in a draft-day trade from Nashville, allowed five goals on 25 shots.