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Scott Gomez had plenty to smile about last night. In Game One of the latest installment of the Battle of Hudson, the 28 year-old from Anchorage got the better of his former teammates, sparking the Rangers past the Devils 4-1 at The Prudential Center.

Given the business by former supporters, all Gomez did was setup three Ranger goals much the way he had when he wore Devil colors. By utilizing his superior speed and playmaking skills to impact the game. It started early in the second when the first-year Blueshirt created his team’s first goal by dishing off to Brendan Shanahan and then screening Marty Brodeur which allowed Shanny to net his 59th career postseason tally.

The Devils would comeback to tie on defenseman Paul Martin’s first career playoff goal with Gomez in the box for a soft hook. But when his team needed it most, the affable pivot more than made up for the penalty by putting his finger prints all over the final period.

With the Rangers struggling due to a strong Devil attack which had the hosts leading 9-0 in shots, Gomez and penalty killer Ryan Callahan created a shorthanded opportunity which changed the game. The rookie right wing’s shot rebounded back out. With a couple of Devils there, Gomez drove hard to the net and got a piece of the puck pushing it to a vacant spot. For whatever reason, Brodeur waited. The aggressive stickhandling netminder later admitted he didn’t know Callahan was sneaking around the net.

If he wanted to keep play moving, it benefited the Rangers as a hustling Callahan got to the loose puck and buried it past a stunned Brodeur for a huge shorthanded tally with under 12:37 left. It was a great play by the Rochester native but one made possible by Gomez, who kept the puck alive to setup the go-ahead score.

Lifted by the momentum swinging goal, the Rangers played much better down the stretch outshooting the Devils 7-3 the rest of the way.

Gomez’ big night wasn’t over. With his former club desperate to tie it, he took advantage of a turnover in the neutral zone teaming with Sean Avery for a key insurance marker with 2:53 left. Avery started the play by intercepting the puck and then fed a streaking Gomez, who went around three Devils drawing Brodeur before slipping the biscuit into a vacated crease area where Sergei Brylin couldn’t handle it allowing Avery to stuff one home for his first of the series crushing Devil hopes.

It was Gomez’ third assist of the night burning the team he helped win a couple of Stanley Cups with. At that point, the Ranger fans who made the trip across the Path started chanting, “Scott–ie Gomez, Scott–ie Gomez, Scott–ie Gomez” in support of the player who once tormented their club. Funny how this heated rivalry works when a player crosses over to the other side.

Thanks to some generosity from vet Shanahan, Devil killer Nigel Dawes sank his first career playoff tally into an open net in the closing seconds to put the stamp on a Ranger Game One triumph allowing them to gain home ice with the second game tomorrow in Newark.

So, was the big game extra special against the centerman’s former team?

“It’s the playoffs. It doesn’t matter who you play,” he later told the AP deflecting attention. “It could have been any team. As you get older, the years go by faster.

“I’ve got a lot of friends over there, but the way you’re raised over there, it doesn’t matter who’s in the way. There were no extra emotions.”

Well stated. Besides, it was only the first game of what promises to be a hard fought series.