Newark, NJ (Sports Network) - Zach Parise scored twice to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 6-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers, but the win may have been a costly one, as goaltender Martin Brodeur left the contest with a bruised left elbow.
Brodeur skated off the ice just over 6 1/2 minutes into the second period. He initially appeared to hurt himself stretching for a shot and a few moments later went down to the ice clutching his left arm.
The four-time Vezina Trophy winner has started each of New Jersey's first 10 games. He stopped all five shots he faced before exiting and was credited with the victory, leaving him seven wins shy of Patrick Roy's all-time mark of 551.
Kevin Weekes took over and finished the contest with 14 saves as the Devils halted a three-game losing streak -- the last two coming in overtime and a shootout. Patrik Elias notched a goal and an assist in the victory, while Johnny Oduya registered three assists.
Parise has nine goals this season and has scored at least once in six straight games to match a New Jersey record. Pat Verbeek, Kirk Muller, Valeri Zelepukin and Bobby Holik have also accomplished the feat.
Slava Kozlov scored the lone goal for Atlanta, which has lost six in a row -- the last five in regulation. Johan Hedberg started in net for the Thrashers and turned aside 20 shots in two periods of work. Ondrej Pavelec, recalled from Chicago of the AHL before the game, made six saves in the third period.
The Devils opened the scoring with 5:50 left in the first period, as Nicklas Bergfors emerged out of the right corner with the puck and threw a shot toward the net. Dainius Zubrus provided a screen in front of Hedberg and the puck squeezed through to give Bergfors his first goal.
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Hedberg stopped the 11 other shots he faced in the opening 20 minutes, but didn't have the same success in the second. New Jersey fired 14 more shots in the middle stanza and found the back of the net five times to blow it open.
Elias got it started just 2:34 into the period when his pass from the right circle toward Brian Gionta was deflected past Hedberg by the stick of Atlanta defenseman Mathieu Schneider.
Parise then netted his first of the game a mere 58 seconds later, banging in the rebound of a Jamie Langenbrunner attempt.
After Brodeur left the contest, Gionta made it 4-0 at the 9:28 mark when he knocked in the rebound of a point shot by Oduya that first caromed off Elias.
The Devils then scored twice in the final minute to put it away. Jay Pandolfo started and finished a neat three-way passing play with his first goal of the season with just 29 seconds remaining, and Parise added his second of the game with only seven seconds left off a perfect cross-ice feed from Travis Zajac.
Atlanta finally scored 6 1/2 minutes into the third period when Kozlov, just out of the penalty box, converted a Colby Armstrong feed on a 2-on-1 into his fifth goal.
