The last time New Jersey scored a first-period goal was in a 3-2 loss to Washington on Dec. 10, a loss that snapped the Devils’ 10-game point streak. This time around, the Devils walked away with a nail-biting 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers at the Prudential Center.

With Patrik Elias out of the lineup due to a tightened groin, someone had to step up in his place.

In fact, the new captain and a rare call up from Lowell rose to the occasion for the Devils, in the opening 20 minutes, nonetheless.

Jamie Langenbrunner, who was named team captain last month, opened the scoring 9:08 into the first period with just his sixth on the season.  Devils winger Dainius Zubrus muscled his way past Florida defenseman Ruslan Salei and behind the net.  Zubrus slipped the puck under the shaft of Panthers’ goaltender Tomas Vokoun’s stick to a wide-open Langenbrunner in front who buried the puck for a 1-0 lead.

An unlikely candidate extended the Devils’ lead less than five minutes thereafter.  Noah Clarke, who was an emergency call-up from AHL, scored his third career goal, his first as a Devil.  He converted an Olli Jokinen turnover into a goal, when he fired a shot over the blocker of Vokoun.  Clarke recorded three shots in 10:39 of ice time, while fellow AHL linemate Barry Talackson returned to the ice for the first time since Feb 20.  They made their season debuts.

After New Jersey outshot Florida 12-6 in the opening period, Florida returned the favor in the middle frame.  The Panthers finally broke through and cut the Devils’ lead in half at the 7:30 mark.

Stephen Weiss avoided a check by Devils’ forward David Clarkson and streaked down the middle of the ice.  Weiss took the puck back from Nathan Horton to feed an open David Booth in front of Brodeur.  Booth beat a sprawling Brodeur with his ninth to close the gap to 2-1.

However, goaltender Martin Brodeur (19-13-2) preserved the lead and only allowed one goal on 14 second-period shots.

The Devils looked to seal the game in the final period when they went on a 5-on-3 advantage for nearly two full minutes.  They opened the power play with some sloppy work and head coach Brent Sutter called a timeout to regroup.

After the timeout, the Devils got the cycle working.  Langenbrunner fed the puck down low to Zach Parise, who entered the contest with a team-leading 37 points. He whipped the puck across to Brian Gionta, who redirected the puck past Vokoun to extend the Devils lead back to two goals at 3-1. Langenbrunner had his first two-point night since Dec. 16, when he also scored and assisted on a goal in the Devils’4-2 win over Philadelphia.

“We had to take a time out to settle things down…and we were able to capitalize,” Sutter said in a post-game press conference.

That goal proved to be the difference as the Panthers quickly responded one and a half minutes later.  Florida defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, who had left Gionta open on the previous goal, put home a rebound off a Jokinen shot.  The shot came on a bad angle and went over Brodeur’s left shoulder to bring the Panthers to within one goal.

Both goalies locked it down after the Bouwmeester goal, making key stops down the stretch.  Vokoun turned away Langenbrunner on a 3-on-1 break with three minutes left to play to keep the game close, but Florida just could not solve Marty, who started his ninth consecutive game between the pipes. Brodeur (20-13-2) recorded 31 saves in the win and Vokoun (18-15-2) stopped 24 shots in the Panthers loss.

With the win, the Atlantic-Division leading Devils improved to 22-14-3 and continued to maintain a three-point edge over Pittsburgh and the Rangers, who are tied for second place. Florida fell to 18-19-3 with the defeat.

Noah Clarke and Barry Tallackson played their first games of the season for New Jersey filling in for Patrik Elias (groin) and Aaron Asham (Flu).  Jay Pandolfo missed his 15th consecutive game due to a lower body injury.  Sheldon Brookbank was a healthy scratch to make room for Tallackson.

New Jersey hosts Philadelphia this Friday night at the Rock.  Florida continues its road trip with the NY Islanders tomorrow evening and Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon.

Tonight’s lines according to FSN NY:

New Jersey:                                                  Florida:

Gionta -Madden-Parise                                Jokinen- Stumpel-Zednik

Zubrus-Langenbrunner-Zajac                    Booth-Weiss -Horton

Clarke -Brylin-Clarkson                                Olesz-McLean-Dvorak

Pelley-Rupp-Tallackson                               Campbell-Kreps-Glass

Defensive Pairings:

Greene-Vishnevski                                      Bouwmeester-Allen

White – Mottau                                              Cullimore-Salei

Oduya – Martin                                              Mezei-Montador

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