"The Devils can turn the page now, Zach Parise said. After losing their first five meetings with the Islanders last season, the Devils opened this season with a 2-1 win over their Atlantic Division rivals Friday night at the Prudential Center.

"I guess we can move on from that," said Parise, who scored the Devils' first goal. "It's a different team than last year, we are a better team than last year and we're don't have to deal with that 0-5 start again."

The Islanders were also a different team Friday night, but not a better one. In what was also their season opener, the Islanders did not start goaltender Rick DiPietro, who had season-ending hip surgery last March and offseason knee surgery. Scott Gordon said it was a precautionary measure since the Islanders have three games in four days but the first-year Islanders coach would not say whether DiPietro would be in goal tonight in the Islanders' home opener against the Blues.

"We talked about it for two days. We wanted to make sure we did what was right for him," Gordon said after losing his NHL coaching debut. "It was probably the easiest decision I'm going to make as a coach because we were all on the same page."

DiPietro was not available to the media after the game, but was seen with an ice pack on his knee.

Backup goalie Joey MacDonald, who made 27saves, said he had been told "to be ready" earlier in the week. He added that he'd be ready tonight if called to make another start. Martin Brodeur, the Devils' 36-year-old goalie, made his 14th consecutive opening night start, surpassing Tony Esposito's NHL record of 13 straight season-opening starts with the Blackhawks. Brodeur stopped a penalty shot in the first period and made 25 saves to record his 539th career win. He needs just 12 more to tie Patrick Roy's NHL record of 551 wins.

"You get a penalty shot right away, that's a way to really get going," Brodeur said of Kyle Okposo's penalty shot. "I was lucky enough to get a glove on it.""