Patrik Elias will never forget the 1,000th game of his career. "I'm always going to remember this," said Elias, who had a goal, two assists and made a huge defensive play on a penalty kill in the closing minute, leading the Devils to a 5-2 victory over the Panthers on Friday night. "For me, it was a special night," said Elias, whose assist on Ilya Kovalchuk's first of two-third period goals gave the Devils the lead for good at 11:40 of the third period. "The last two games were up and down for us and we really needed this one to bounce back. I was fortunate to make the play to give us the lead in the third. It's a nice achievement to have and I'll take the way we won tonight. I hopefully have a few more years left in me to play more games."