The New Jersey Devils' worst enemy right now is not the New York Rangers.
It's themselves. The Devils outplayed their longtime rivals and had more quality scoring chances in the series-opener on Wednesday, but they still find themselves down 1-0 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final series heading into Game 2 on Friday night.
The difference in Game 1 was the Devils made the big mistakes late and the Rangers capitalized for a 4-1 victory. It's been that way all year against the Rangers, who won 7 of 8 regular-season games.
"This is what has happened every time we played these guys, unfortunately," veteran forward Sergei Brylin said Thursday after the Devils practised at the Prudential Center. "We played pretty well, then the second goal changed the game."
The Hockey News: Headlines: New Jersey Devils' worst enemy is themselves, not New York Rangers
New Jersey Devils' worst enemy is themselves, not New York Rangers
New Jersey Devils' worst enemy is themselves, not New York Rangers 
