Livid with the officiating throughout his team's 4-1 loss to the Rangers, Devils coach Pete DeBoer was tossed from the game with less than 35 seconds remaining in regulation. DeBoer, who earned a bench minor for "abuse of officials" in the second period after a blatant too-many-men penalty on the Rangers went unnoticed, was served with a game misconduct as time was winding down.

At a glance: Bounced from the playoffs by the Devils last spring, the Rangers have a prime opportunity to exact some payback when they host their division rivals at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. New York can end the Devils' season with a win, an opportunity they are sure to relish heading into the last week of the regular season.
Facing elimination Saturday, the Devils demolished the Panthers 6-2 to keep their playoff hopes alive heading into a bitter clash against the Rangers to close out the weekend. The Devils travel to Manhattan Sunday for a matinee against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Re-claiming his old No. 12, Alexei Ponikarovsky was back in a Devils jersey and practicing with his former teammates during the team's morning skate in Newark Friday. The 32-year-old winger is set to play Friday when the Devils host the Philadelphia Flyers.
At a glance: In a Valentine’s Day rematch with little love between the two New York rivals, the Rangers host the slumping Islanders at Madison Square Garden for the second time in one week. The Blueshirts aim to collect their fourth straight win while the Islanders hope to snap a five-game skid that has them plummeting to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

NEWARK, N.J. -- Capitals coach and former Devils assistant Adam Oates was trying to find the silver lining in his team’s overtime loss until Ilya Kovalchuk’s sharp-angle game winner was brought up.

NEWARK, N.J. – Putting to bed all the speculation that he could possibly stay in Russia this season, Devils’ star Ilya Kovalchuk arrived for his first day of training camp with the team Wednesday.
Star winger Ilya Kovalchuk is expected to arrive Wednesday for his first day of Devils training camp. Kovalchuk, 29, spent the lockout playing in his native Russia, racking up 18 goals and 24 assists in 36 games for SKA St.

After missing the playoffs in 2011, the Devils bounced back last season with a surprising run to the Stanley Cup finals. The 2012 Eastern Conference champions will be facing an uphill battle to replicate that success this season, however, due to the loss of superstar forward Zach Parise, who signed with Minnesota.
New Jersey's Ilya Kovalchuk will return to his native Russia to play throughout the NHL lockout. Kovalchuk's agent confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com that the 29-year-old sniper will join SKA St. Petersburg and begin playing Sept.
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