NEWARK, N.J. -- Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner each had a goal and an assist and New Jersey Devils showed they are over their late-season swoon with a dominating 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in the opening game of their first-round playoffs series Wednesday night.

Defenseman Mike Mottau scored a rare goal late in the first period, Parise and Patrik Elias tallied in the second period and Langenbrunner added one in the third as New Jersey seemed to answer questions that surrounded it after a late six-game losing streak.

Martin Brodeur, who set the regular-season record for NHL career wins last month, came within 11 minutes of tying Patrick Roy's record for career playoff shutouts at 23 before Ray Whitney scored on a rebound. Brodeur finished with 18 saves in winning for the 96th time in the postseason.

Coach Brent Sutter felt the team was OK after winning four of its final five, and the showing against the Hurricanes was more evidence of that.

The playoff appearance was the first for Carolina since they won the Stanley Cup in 2006, and the Hurricanes played as if they did not want to stay around long. Cam Ward kept them in the game, making 34 saves.

The Devils outshot the Hurricanes 15-7 in the first period but they didn't score until Ward made a mistake. The goaltender, who posted a 19-7-2 mark in his final 28 starts, had control of the puck behind his net late in the period and elected to try to clear it himself off the sideboards.

Mottau, who had one goal in 80 games this season, intercepted the pass, and beat Ward with a shot from the right point with 3:57 left in the period. The defenseman was also a little lucky in getting his second career playoff in six games. Carolina forward Chad LaRose had a chance to nudge the puck away from him before he shot but he missed the opportunity.

Parise made a great individual effort in the opening minute of the second period to push the lead to 2-0. He fought through a check along by boards by Eric Staal, took a little pass from Travis Zajac and beat Ward to the far side with a shot from a bad angle.

Elias got his goal on a nice play by Brian Gionta. The little forward took the puck away from Rod Brind'Amour in the corner after Elias was stopped on a wraparound attempt, and then found Elias for a shot from the left circle.

The crowd of 17,625 started chanting "Cam Ward" repeatedly and then switched to "Marty is better" a couple of minutes later.

Whitney got Carolina on the board after Brodeur stopped LaRose in close. Parise whiffed on a wild swing to clear the puck and Whitney backhanded the puck into an open net at 9:22.

The Hurricanes didn't get long to enjoy the goal. Langenbrunner took a pass from Parise 29 seconds later and blistered a shot past Ward.

Rangers 4, Capitals 3

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With the score tied in the third period, the New York Rangers did what they do best -- kill off a power play. Then Markus Naslund popped out of the penalty box and set up the winning goal.

Naslund fed Brandon Dubinsky, who made a move that left Jeff Schultz sprawled on the ice. Dubinsky then beat goalie Jose Theodore inside the near post with 8:17 remaining, lifting the Rangers to a 4-3 victory over Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference series.

Scott Gomez had a goal and two assists, Nik Antropov and Naslund each had a goal and an assist, and Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves to help the seventh-seeded Rangers take the early series momentum against the second-seeded Capitals.

Tomas Fleischmann, Viktor Kozlov and Alexander Semin scored the goals, and Ovechkin had a pair of assists for the Capitals, who will try to pull even when they host Game 2 on Saturday. Jose Theodore made 17 saves for Washington.

The Rangers, the NHL's best penalty killers during the regular season, uncharacteristically allowed two power-play goals -- the first time in 30 games they've allowed more than one -- but they shut the Capitals down when it mattered. Naslund was whistled for infractions twice in the game's final 12 minutes -- the second time for slashing Ovechkin -- but Washington's No. 2-ranked power play came up empty both times.

Canucks 2, Blues 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist, and Roberto Luongo made 25 saves to help the Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Wednesday night in their playoff opener.

Sami Salo added a power-play goal for the Canucks, 14-1-1 at home since the start of February. Game 2 of the Western Conference series is Friday night at GM Place.

Brad Boyes scored on a power play with 1:44 left in the second period to pull the Blues within a goal, but that was a lone bright spot for St. Louis special teams that were supposed to be an advantage in this quarterfinal series.