Toronto

Rod Pelley has been the Albany Devils' captain for three seasons and a professional hockey player for 10.

Until now, he had never advanced to the second round of a playoff series, not in the NHL or the American Hockey League.

The Devils, having dispatched of Utica in the opening round, hold a 1-0 lead on the Toronto Marlies in a Calder Cup quarterfinal best-of-seven series.

"Every day is great," Pelley said Thursday. "Everyone's energized, everyone's coming to the rink to get better every day. You feel that as a group. You can't really beat that. All the work you put in throughout the year, this is where it finally comes out and it counts. It's been a lot of fun."

Pelley's leadership, shot-blocking, penalty-killing and face-off ability have been on display for Albany, which has won four of five postseason games.

The Devils will be trying to take a 2-0 lead over the AHL-leading Marlies on Friday night.

"You make the trip up north here, you want to win both games," Pelley said. "That's the goal. We're definitely not content. You want to keep your foot on the gas pedal and go into tomorrow's game with the mindset of winning."

More Information Devils vs. Marlies (Albany leads series, 1-0) Game 1: Albany, 2-1 Friday: at Toronto, 7:30 p.m. Sunday: at Albany, 5 p.m. Tuesday: at Albany, 7 p.m. Thursday: at Albany*, 7 p.m. Saturday, May 14: at Toronto*, 3 p.m. Monday, May 16: at Toronto*, 7:30 p.m. *-if necessary See More Collapse

Day of rest for playing group

Only the players who didn't play in Game 1, including backup goaltender Yann Danis, were on the ice Thursday afternoon for the Devils' practice session.

The schedule in this series has the teams playing every other day. The Marlies' practice Thursday also was an optional.

"When the travel comes in (after Games 2 and 5), I don't see much practice time between games," Devils coach Rick Kowalsky said. "For us, it probably would have went the same way, but when you drop to 11 forwards five seconds into the game, we had some guys that played some hard minutes last night. It really makes no sense to skate today."

The Devils lost veteran center Jim O'Brien on the game's opening shift to a shoulder injury. He has been ruled out indefinitely.

No place like home

Scott Wedgewood, playing for the first time as a pro in his home area, said he had about 20 family members and friends for Game 1 at Ricoh Coliseum.

"I know a lot of people who tuned to watch it, back even in Michigan and Albany," said Wedgewood, a native of Brampton, a Toronto suburb. "Around here, the local channels had it so people were able to see it. That was nice.

"Then my two brothers, my sister-in-law, my borhter's girlfriend. parents, Grandma, and two of my good buddies came. It was nice to have."

The save, and a beauty

Wedgewood made 32 saves in the Devils' Game 1 victory, although teammate Nick Lappin should have been credit with one in the first period.

Marlies defenseman Stuart Percy came skating down the slot and beat Wedgewood, but Lappin, skating in behind his goalie, kept the puck out of the net.

"I saw the guy trying to go around Wedge there, and I tried to get in front of it the best I could," Lappin said. "I was lucky I able to stop it. Wedge got a piece of it first, which was able to slow it down a bit, which made it easier to block."

"Percy had like six pump fakes down the slot," Wedgewood said, "I got it off my paddle. I got about 80 percent of it, and he (Lappin) came through the crease and blocked one there."

Here yesterday, gone today

Former New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello, who now has the same title with the Toronto Maple Leafs, was in the stands for Game 1. He sat in a private box with Leafs head coach Mike Babcock.

Lamoriello will not be on hand for Game 2. He and Mark Hunter, the Leafs' director of player personnel, are headed to St. Petersburg, Russia, for the World Championships. Canada and the U.S. play at 9 a.m. (ET) Friday.

pdougherty@timesunion.com • 518-454-5416 • @Pete_Dougherty