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The slumping New Jersey Devils have seen the injury bug hit key players early on this season - one of them their star goaltender.

Martin Brodeur won't play as Devils again seek their first home win of the season when they face the New York Rangers on Friday night.

A visit to New Jersey is always an eventful night for Rangers forward Sean Avery, who has no problem letting the Devils know how he feels about them.

The NHL's all-time wins leader left a 5-3 victory over Chicago in the second period Wednesday with a bruised right elbow. He practiced Friday morning and expected to play, but felt a sharp pain when he tried to swat away a puck to the stick side.

I thought I was going to be able to play," Brodeur said after the morning skate. "When I first went on the ice, I really thought I was going to be OK, and it's a couple of little things I have to do with my stick. If it was the glove side, I would have been OK to play, but because I have to hold my stick, it's a little too painful."

Johan Hedberg, who came in and stopped 21 of 24 shots, will start against the Rangers. Jeff Frazee was called up from Albany of the AHL and will serve as Hedberg's backup.

Jamie Langenbrunner had a goal and two assists for his first multi-point effort this season for New Jersey (4-9-1) on Wednesday. The Devils recorded their highest scoring output of 2010-11 in their first win without last season's leading scorer.

Zach Parise, who had 38 goals and 44 assists in 2009-10, underwent surgery on his right knee to repair a torn meniscus Tuesday.

"We've already got a lot of injuries, we're not playing that great, but I'm confident the guys will be fine and still pull out of this funk that we're in without me," he told the team's official website. "I am confident that we'll get things straightened out, get things figured out."

The Devils can start by picking up a win at home, where they're 0-4-1 and have been outscored 20-8.

Brodeur is 1-4-0 in his last five starts, a stretch that started Oct. 24 with a 3-1 loss to New York at Madison Square Garden. However, he's gone 28-8-3 with three ties, a 1.89 goals-against average and seven shutouts against the Rangers at home.

The Rangers are coming off a 4-1 loss to Philadelphia on Thursday, the teams' first meeting since the Flyers ended the Rangers' playoff hopes in a shootout on the final day of the 2009-10 season.

Brandon Dubinsky's team-high eighth goal gave the Rangers the lead in the second period, but they were unable to overcome costly turnovers.

Henrik Lundqvist is 6-3-1 in his last 10 games in New Jersey, winning two of his last three starts there.