Albany

Who says there are no major league sports in Albany?

That sure looked like an NHL team on the ice Saturday evening at Times Union Center, where the Albany Devils pasted the Utica Comets, 5-1, to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round American Hockey League playoff series.

The Devils now can finish off this best-of-five by winning one of the next two games in Utica, which seems like a foregone conclusion given the way Albany had a stranglehold on the final two periods of Game 2 and the fact that the Devils are fielding something close to an NHL-caliber lineup.

It's the silver lining to New Jersey missing the playoffs. With the Stanley Cup no longer in play, the organization went all in chasing a Calder Cup, sending a cadre of players to Albany who spent a significant chunk of the season in the NHL. All told, the Devils have 17 guys on their roster with NHL experience.

And it shows.

Albany's first goal was set up by Damon Severson, who has played almost all of the past two seasons in New Jersey. He stole the puck near the blue line then slid a pass to Ben Thomson, tying the score at 1.

The Devils later scored on two of their three power plays, which shouldn't be a surprise, considering the unit includes Severson, Reid Boucher (who played 39 NHL games this past regular season) and Pavel Zacha, the sixth overall pick in the 2015 draft.

Some perspective: Remember Paul Thompson, who was the AHL's second overall leading scorer last year? On this team, he's on the third line.

The only thing that felt minor league about Saturday's game was the announced attendance of 5,104, but the Devils may build momentum both on the ice and in the stands if their run continues. After all, we're not exactly used to playoff hockey.

It's been a long time since an Albany pro hockey team showed the potential to make a deep postseason run. The Albany franchise has gotten out of the first round only once since 1998 and not since 2010.

Few, if any, Albany teams since the 1995 Calder Cup champions boasted this kind of talent, but better still, the Devils sound genuinely excited about trying to extend the hockey season into May. Players like Severson, Boucher and Joseph Blandisi have played a significant number of NHL games, but none in the postseason. They're excited for playoff hockey.

"You could go home and sit out on the couch and watch the Stanley Cup playoffs," Severson said. "Some guys might not take the opportunity (to play in the AHL) in a good way, but I was excited."

It's worth noting that this was a pretty good team even before all the reinforcements arrived. The Devils finished second in the North Division, with a record of 46-20-8-2. And they allowed the second-fewest goals (167) in the league.

"They've got one of the better teams in the league," Utica coach Travis Green said. "We knew going into this series it would be a tough task."

The task will be just as tough for whomever the Devils play next, even if it's the Toronto Marlies, the only team in the North Division to finish ahead of Albany in the standings.

Like with New Jersey and Albany, the Toronto Maple Leafs missed the playoffs, and the Marlies benefited. Should Albany and Toronto meet in the next round — Toronto has a 1-0 series lead over Bridgeport — there would be a wealth of NHL-level players on the ice.

So, who said there are no major league sports in Albany?

piorizzo@timesunion.com • 518-454-5425 • @peteiorizzo