The New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers are tied, 1-1, after one period tonight at the BankAtlantic Center.
The teams both had 12 shots on goal.
Devils' rookie Nick Palmieri opened the scoring at 5:01 of the period. Zajac won a faceoff in the Panthers zone back to Anssi Salmela on the point. Salmela flubbed his shot, but the puck trickled into the right circle. Zajac fired the loose puck on net, and Palmieri pushed the rebound past ex-Devil Scott Clemmensen for his second goal of the season.
Florida responded with a goal from their own rookie with 4:53 remaining in the period. Evgeni Dadonov blasted a right circle shot that beat Martin Brodeur to the stick side for his fourth goal of the season.
Both the Devils and Panthers came into tonight's game carrying two-game win streaks.