Brodeur, eight wins shy of tying Patrick Roy's NHL record of 551 career victories, had played every minute of New Jersey's 10 games this season before he was hurt 6:38 into the second period. He did a split to make a sprawling stop, got up slowly clutching his left arm, and skated off the ice with the Devils leading 3-0.
Zach Parise scored two goals to help the Devils end a three-game losing streak and extend his goal-scoring string to a career-high six straight.
Atlanta suffered its six straight loss, a game in which the Thrashers were barely competitive. Slava Kozlov scored for Atlanta at 6:30 of the third period off Brodeur's replacement - Kevin Weekes -to prevent its third shutout in 11 games.
Brodeur led the NHL in games played by a goalie the last two seasons with 78 and 77 appearances. The last time he was forced out of action was in 2005, when he was sidelined for six games due to a knee injury from Oct. 28 to Nov. 8.
In addition to closing in on Roy's records for wins and games played by a goalie, Brodeur also is five shutouts away from tying Terry Sawchuk's NHL career mark of 103.
Bergfors scored the goal as the Devils led 1-0 after a dominant first period in which they outshot the Thrashers 12-4.
Bergfors got his first NHL point, shooting from the right circle while Dainius Zubrus provided an effective screen in front of Johan Hedberg at 14:10.
Hedberg made his second start of the season with Kari Lehtonen, "under the weather" according to Thrashers officials, a scratch.
New Jersey blew the game open with five goals in the second period for a 6-0 lead.
In addition to the pair from Parise, New Jersey got tallies from Patrik Elias, Brian Gionta and Jay Pandolfo.
Notes: Sheldon Brookbank replaced Andy Greene on the New Jersey blueline. Greene suffered a broken hand Thursday night in the Devils 6-5 shootout loss to the Maple Leafs and will be out 4-to-6 weeks. ... Bergfors played in his second game. He played on opening night last season and hurt his shoulder. ... The Thrashers recalled G Ondrej Pavelec from Chicago (AHL) to backup Hedberg. He took over to start the third period. ... Parise became the fifth Devil to score goals in six straight games. Bobby Holik, on a seven-game stretch, did it most recently in 1998. Other Devils to reach that mark were Kirk Muller, Pat Verbeek and Valeri Zelepukin. Paul Gardner holds the franchise record with goals in 11 straight in 1979, when the team was located in Colorado and Don Cherry was the head coach.
