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Calgary Flames left wing Ken Agostino (left) won three New Jersey state hockey titles playing for Delbarton School.

(Robert Mayer/USA TODAY Sports)

NEWARK – Born in Morristown and raised in Flanders, Calgary Flames rookie left wing Kenny Agostino used to go to a lot of Devils games.

Some of his buddies had season tickets and he’d frequently tag along.

His friends all rooted for the Devils.

Agostino, back home Monday night for the first time in his just-starting NHL career, rooted for whomever the Devils were playing.

His team was the Rangers, and on his bedroom walls were posters of their stars of his early childhood - Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and Mike Richter.

“I haven't changed my room,” Agostino said.

Agostino’s hockey life has been a whirlwind of success – three New Jersey state titles in four championship games at Delbarton School, where he’s the all-time leading scorer … 56 goals and 132 points in 134 games in four seasons of college hockey at Yale, where he won an NCAA title as a junior … and now 10 days after signing a two-year, $900,000 contract with the Flames and three days after scoring his first NHL goal in his fifth NHL game, he’ll play an NHL game at Prudential Center against the Devils.

“It's going to be a cool experience,” said Agostino, who will turn 22 on April 30. “It's a building I've seen a lot of games in, so it's going to be fun.”

He’ll have a lot of family and friends in for the game, so many that he says he’s “lost count.”

Agostino probably figured his first NHL game in New Jersey would be in a Pittsburgh Penguins uniform. Pittsburgh drafted him in the fifth round of the 2010 draft, but during his junior year at Yale, he was traded to Calgary in a March 2013 deal that sent future Hall of Fame right wing Jarome Iginla to the Penguins.

“It was an honor to be in a trade with the likes of an Iginla,” he said. “I'm just trying to play my game and obviously I want to help this organization in any way I can.”

Agostino already has, as he scored Calgary’s first goal in a 2-1 win at Florida last Friday night. That first goal made him think back to his roots.

“It's a lot of years of hard work and a lot of help from family and friends and coaches along the way,” he said.

His first NHL stint hasn’t been one big high. His team is second to last in the Western Conference and heading into Monday, he’s played five games and been a healthy scratch five times since joining the team.

"He's still a young kid fresh (out) of college,” Flames coach Bob Hartley said. “He's learning that it's not an ordinary step between college or major junior to the NHL. So I think he's adapting well.

“Based on our situation, we can put them in all kinds of situations and see how they feel. The most important thing of what we do is that we give them an opportunity to build a gauge, so that they can compare themselves to college and compare themselves to the NHL level, and go back home in the summer and say, 'I need to work on this.' If we don't play (inexperienced NHL players such as Agostino), they will get in the summer thinking it's going to be an easy step, which is not.”

Agostino learned quickly that it’ll take some time to adjust from college hockey to faster-paced NHL.

“Not just the physical speed of the players, but how fast the game moves,” he said. “The window of opportunity to make plays is very small and the window to make plays is very fine, so every pass has to be hard and fine.”

College hockey served a big purpose for the development of his game.

“I really couldn't play in the 'D' zone at all when I got to Yale, and college hockey is a very physical, fast-paced game,” he said. “College hockey and (the Yale coaching staff) taught me the basics in 'D' zone play and how important defense is. If you want to play offense, you have to play defense to have the puck. I learned a lot in my four years at Yale.”

Monday night, Agostino is back in the area hoping to impress his personal rooting section, which figures to be three or four dozen strong, and along the way, beat the hometown team that he’s always loved to hate.

"It's going to be a special night," Agostino said.