

Devils rookie Petr Vrana played only 7:02 in his first NHL game tonight - a 4-3 shootout victory over the Capitals -- but made the most of it.
He scored his first NHL goal by deflecting in a pass-shot from Patrik Elias 12:48 into the game. The puck glanced off the right post before going in and making Vrana the 13th player in Devils' history to score a goal in his first NHL game.
"I just put my stick on the ice and Patty shot it," Vrana said. "I wasn't actualyl sure at first if it went in or not. It's definitely a great feeling, a great play."
Although Colin White retrieved the puck for Vrana, Elias half-jokingly tried to stake a claim to it because the assist was the 365th of his career, giving him one more than Scott Niedermayer for the most in team history.
"Petr's going to get the puck," Elias siad. "I told him we have to cut it in half, but I was kidding. It was a big goal for him and I'm very happy for him."
Vrana said his father, Vaclav, was watching the game in Czech Republic on the internet. He planned to try to call him when the team gets back to New Jersey later tonight or Sunday morning.
"I'm pretty sure my dad knows," Vrana said. "I'm going to call him tomorrow. It doesn't make sense to call him now. Maybe even when I get home. He'll just be getting up when we get home, I think."
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The backhand move that Zach Parise scored the shootout winner on tonight was the same one he used to score a shootout winner on the Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist in the final game of last season.
"I just feel comfortable doing it," Parise said. "I knew (Brent Johnson) hadn't seen it before. That's kind of my go-to move right now."
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Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur has had some trouble stopping Michael Nylander in shootouts over the years, but he's not the only one. The former Ranger entered the game with 10 goals on 25 attempts, but Brodeur was able to outwait him tonight and pokecheck away the puck at the last instant.
Patience is the key with Nylander, who often starts out very slow.
"He waits so much with the puck between the red line and the blue line," Brodeur said. "He's beat me so many times, I was like, 'I'm going to take my time here and just wait for one move.' I was almost standing up waiting for him to stop doing his curls and after that I just took it from a breakway from the blue line."
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Andy Greene's third period goal, which briefly gave the Devils a 3-2 lead, was his first of the season and the fourth of his career. It came on a shot from the left point that deflected in off the left shinguard of Washington's Eric Fehr in the left circle.
"It was the old throw it on the net, try to get a shot through and see what happens," he said.
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Bryce Salvador said he got struck in the funny bone in his right wrist by a Capitals' dump in in the third period. He was able to shake it off, though, and not miss a shift./
"I lost the feeling," he said. "It hit me right in the funny bone."
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