Throughout the offseason, The Devils’ Den will preview the 2011-2012 schedule, breaking down matchups and providing in-depth analysis of their opponents. Today, we the preview this season’s matchup with the Calgary Flames.

The New Jersey Devils and Calgary Flames came together to form one of the more interesting games two years ago. Flames’ head coach Brent Sutter, who failed to lead New Jersey past the first round as coach, left the team. He cited the need to be near his family and the Red Deer Rebels. Shortly after that, he signed on to coach Calgary. That led to an interesting meeting at the Prudential Center, but one that went without any real incident.

Since then, the matchup faded back to it’s usual ho-hum nature. As with most of the teams from the Western Conference, there isn’t much hatred between the two teams. The matchup, however, still offers some intrigue. Here’s why you should watch this year’s matchup between the two teams.

The History Behind The Matchup

In 92 games against Calgary, New Jersey is 24-56-1 with 11 ties. Their .326 point percentage is the worst historically among all opponents. The Devils allow 3.89 goals per matchup (358 total) and score just 2.71 goals per matchup (249 total).

The team’s faced off once last season, on November 24 at the Prudential Center. The matchup came during the Devils only hot streak of the first half, and ended in a 2-1 shootout victory for the Devils. David Clarkson opened the scoring, tipping home a Mattias Tedenby shot at 13:06 of the first period. Matt Corrente held the puck at the blueline, skating it toward the center of the zone. His shot hit Tedenby in the slot, but the rookie found the puck and fired it on net. Clarkson deflected it past Henrik Karlsson for the lead.

Calgary wouldn’t go easily, tying the game just 1:18 into the third period. Mark Giordano held the puck near the blueline, shooting the puck toward the net. Rene Bourque came skating across the slot and tipped the puck past Johan Hedberg for the game-tying goal. Both teams remained scoreless until the shootout, where Ilya Kovalchuk would take care of business:

That was the first time the Devils strung together two wins in a row. They wouldn’t find that type of success again until January.

This Season’s Matchup

The Flames didn’t make any big splashes in free agency this offseason. They tried for Brad Richards, but ended up as one of the losers in that sweepstakes. They re-signed Anton Babchuk and Brendan Morrison, and recently added defenseman Scott Hannan.

The Devils and Flames trade some spare parts as well. Calgary acquired Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond from New Jersey for a 2012 fifth-round draft pick.

Both teams face off once this season, on January 10 in Calgary.

Stat Pack

In 15 games against the Flames, Martin Brodeur is just 7-5-0 with three ties. He’s carrying a 2.17 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage…In 16 games against New Jersey, Flames’ captain Jarome Iginla has 12 points. Just one of them, however, is on the powerplay.