NEWARK, N.J. – Rookie Jordan Caron got a souvenir he’ll always cherish, the puck from his first NHL goal.

Goalie Tim Thomas and the rest of the Boston Bruins also came away with something they wanted — a solid victory against the New Jersey Devils.

Caron sparked Boston’s four-goal second period, and Thomas made 31 saves Saturday night in the Bruins’ 4-1 victory.

Michael Ryder, Shawn Thornton and Milan Lucic also scored for the Bruins, who played their first game since opening by splitting two games in the Czech Republic against the Phoenix Coyotes.

“It wasn’t like we were looking at beating New Jersey,” Thomas said. “We’ve had trouble with them in the past, but it was more that we wanted to be 2-1. Our goal coming in was to start working our way up the standings. We were hungry for the victory, no matter who it was against.”

Dainius Zubrus scored for the Devils, who are winless at home (0-3-1). They are stunningly 1-4-1 overall, a stumbling start under rookie coach John MacLean for a team loaded with high-priced talent, beginning with $100 million forward Ilya Kovalchuk.

“It’s horrible,” Kovalchuk said. “We have one win in six games. It’s not what we were looking for. Nobody is going to feel bad for us. Every team is going to play their best against us because they know we have a good team. We just have to play together, for each other.”

The Devils had an 11-8 shot advantage in the scoreless first period, and both teams had a solid chance. Brodeur had a glove deflection on a Tyler Seguin shot in the opening minutes. At the other end, Thomas kicked away Jason Arnott’s rebound bid.

The Devils came close again to start the second, but Thomas made a stellar pad save on Kovalchuk.

New Jersey broke through with the first goal at 3:45 of the second. Andy Greene took a point shot that Zach Parise tipped into Thomas before Zubrus swatted home the rebound.

The remainder of the period belonged to Boston.

Caron, a 19-year-old who was a first-round draft pick in 2009, made it 1-1 at 5:38 on a rebound of Johnny Boychuk’s point shot.

“It’s a thrill,” Caron said. “I grew up in Montreal watching Brodeur winning those Stanley Cups. It’s pretty special to score against him. I’ll put the puck in my future home and keep it safe.”

Ryder put the Bruins ahead 2-1 at 10:44, beating Brodeur with a rising wrist shot from the high slot.

Thornton scored at 16:43 from the bottom of the right circle to put Boston up 3-1, and Lucic closed the scoring at 18:09 of the second period.

 

PENGUINS 5, FLYERS 1: Sidney Crosby scored two power-play goals 1:30 apart in the third period, and Pittsburgh won at Philadelphia.

 

AVALANCHE 5, ISLANDERS 2: Milan Jurcina scored twice and Dwayne Roloson stopped 28 shots as New York won at Uniondale, N.Y.

 

PANTHERS 6, LIGHTNING 0: David Booth had two goals and Florida won at Sunrise, Fla., handing Tampa Bay its first loss of the season.

 

CANADIENS 4, SENATORS 3: Tomas Plekanec scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:59 remaining for Montreal at home.

 

CAPITALS 3, PREDATORS 2: Brooks Laich tipped in Alexander Ovechkin’s slap shot at 1:44 of overtime, and Washington rallied at Nashville, Tenn.

 

BLUE JACKETS 3, WILD 2: R.J. Umberger scored a short-handed goal with just more than nine minutes to play and Mathieu Garon made 21 saves as Columbus won at St. Paul, Minn.

NOTES

RANGERS: New York will be without forwards Marian Gaborik and Chris Drury for several weeks after both were injured Friday night.

 

SHARKS: San Jose signed Joe Thornton to a $21 million, three-year contract extension.