Blackhawks @ Devils: that was SOMETHING

and this time, something GOOD. I don't know why Chicago had a "series" (2 games is a series?) with New Jersey, but they did; one home and one away game. (so every team plays every team from the other conference at least once, and three of those teams twice? how does the NHL decide who they play twice?) Blackhawks had a fantastic 5-1 New Year's Eve win over Devils at the United Center; this game was much more in doubt.

NJD took an early lead with Ilya Kovalchuk's 40th goal of the season. I didn't watch the game as closely as I should have because the WGN radio commentators made it sound a bit...boring. but they were entertaining as always...suggesting late in the game that the Hawks maybe mix it up a bit with Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond ("I said I'd only say his whole name once in the broadcast") and get roughing minors to play 4-on-4. also, Burger King gives a free Icee the next day if the Blackhawks win, and I swear they said "a free icing."

I tried to stay optimistic. down 1-0 near the end, Blackhawks went with 6 attackers. I was about to comment "why can't the Hawks ever have one of those dramatic last-second winning or tying goals?" when BOOM, Versteeg tied it with 26 seconds left. the many, many game thread and Twitter comments to jinx Martin Brodeur getting his 109th shutout--even the official Blackhawks Twitter joined in, and so many people in Chicago did it that "shutout" and "Brodeur" were trending topics--hey, that worked!

nothing in overtime, so it went to shootout, where Toews scored and Kovalchuk (his first SO try with the Devils) didn't, and the Hawks won! a great game from Antti Niemi, good enough that both the Blackhawks site and main NHL page used "Antti-dote" (which I may have complained about the first time anyone used it, but I don't mind...)

THAT is a great Toews-face. I may be the only Blackhawks fan blog neglecting the Toews-face (Seabrook has some funny ones too) this season...post-game:

I'm with the WGN guy in not understanding why the losing team gets 2 of the 3 stars of the game...and though Brodeur made some great saves, Niemi made more and won the shootout, you know...

a few notable things about this game: it was the first game John Madden, longtime Devil, played in New Jersey since joining the Blackhawks. the Devils website had a story about him. Patrick Kane is now 4 games without a point; he'd only gone 3 games without a point this season, and that was early October. this was one of the only games Devils lost this year while leading after two periods. this was the Blackhawks' first win in NJ since Dec. 1997. and as alluded earlier, there were few penalties. actually, no penalties in the entire 65 minutes of play. (which isn't to say there weren't actions that might have been called as penalties...) Blackhawks had one game without taking penalties this season (the awful loss to the Islanders), but this is the first NHL game with NO penalties since 2001. LOOK AT THIS BOXSCORE!

if it hadn't gone to shootout, the entire boxscore would have been quite minimal, since there were only the two goals. the NHL.com recap didn't say how long it'd been with a penalty-free game, but this Star-Ledger piece (linked on Puck Daddy) said it was "the first penalty-free game in Devils history and the first in the NHL since the Bruins and Maple Leafs met in Toronto on March 3, 2001." (a Bruins-Leafs game was penalty-free?! Bruins won it 3-0.) were they being a little too nice for Good Friday or something?  not at all in the spirit of the 1984 Good Friday brawl between the Quebec Nordiques and Montreal Canadiens...and by the way, I'm amused that my prior post had possibly the longest penalty list in a hockey game this season!

big night for the blue & white

...no matter what this screenshot from NHL.com shows. so earlier in the season I made fun of a Maple Leafs game 3 Stars with Phil Kessel still in his Bruins uniform. well, this tops it, in a big way, although in this case it's understandable--all the NHL trades of the past 3 days happened so fast, there's barely time for new photos. I wonder if this has ever happened before--all 3 stars from one team, and all shown in their now-outdated uniforms.

as you may know, in their first game with the new goalie and new star defenseman (and Sjostrom), the Maple Leafs shut out the Devils 3-0 (Devils, by the way, were using the goalie who isn't Martin Brodeur). and:

 

note: that's the "official" Hartford Whalers Twitter. I was already going to mention it here...and today because I mentioned Whalers in a tweet, they started following me. I was elated. people with a public Twitter feed are used to getting spam followers based on words they use (I was telling someone about a tweet that got real estate spam--and got two more real estate spam followers because of that one), but I definitely don't mind this. 

anyway, besides the shutout, Phaneuf got into a fight about 6 minutes into the game, so he's got the "truculence" and all. this also ended a long winless streak for the Leafs. meanwhile, the Canucks' 7-game winning streak was snapped in a 3-2 loss (yay! even though it was by the Canadiens). and Boston...scored first against the Capitals, then went on to lose 4-1 (the last was an empty-netter--pffftt, I always think of those as half a goal at best). that's 8 losses in a row...and a record 11 wins in a row for the Caps. 

  

I think I forgot to point out that after the beating by the Flames Saturday, Edmonton finally won after 13 losses...against Carolina. and note that the Flames' first game after the player trades, they got shut out 3-0 by the Flyers.  tonight, I also watched an exciting Red Wings @ Sharks game (Detroit won 4-2 after Sharks blew their 2-0 lead), even though I didn't want either team to win. and I'm glad I caught the end of the Coyotes @ Predators--a scoreless game went to shootout, and the shootout went so long that I watched extra little boxes pop up on the screen to record attempts. after 10 rounds, Phoenix won.

something a little older, now. through Maple Leaf game threads, I'd heard there was a Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi edition, but never encountered it. the New York Times' hockey blog Slap Shot happened to post a fight in the Punjabi version recently, and through YouTube I found another: a decent Colton Orr vs Shawn Thornton bout (right off the faceoff, which is always absurd/entertaining) from Dec. 2009. I can only assume they're talking about "haymakers" and "heavyweights"...

cooking with Marty

believe or not, I had a Martin Brodeur post planned for today, having nothing to do with his goaltending accomplishments. this tweet by loser_domi brought me to the Mom's Recipes section on Brodeur's website, and it seemed holiday-ish, so why not? then, there was some excitement tonight (see a bunch more relevant shots at the bottom of the post). so...it's even more timely, right?

anyway, here we are on the recipe page...

huh, I'll give that the benefit of the doubt (it's supposed to be Mom talking?) and assume it means "Hey, let's go have fun in the kitchen," not "Back in the kitchen, woman." the English on this page isn't 100% accurate, but the recipes are perfectly understandable. The recipe for "Traditional fudge from Quebec Canada" ends with "The result should be sweet and delicious." which is how EVERY RECIPE should end.

the one that cracks me up is a simple recipe, made of only Cool Whip, Jello, and two kinds of canned fruit. now, to my readers not familiar with the American Midwest, here we would call that more of a "salad" than a dessert. salad, in the Midwest/Heartland/you know, where true Americans live, often means something gelatin and/or mayonnaise-based. (it can be even be a savory dish made with gelatin or a sweet dish made with mayonnaise--try not to think about it.) sure, there are vegetable salads here, but those will be called "green salad" (if green). anyway, the reason I like this recipe? again, it's Cool Whip, Jello, and canned fruit, but the recipe name is "Mousse aux fraises." French makes anything sound elegant...

yes, that's French, not French Canadian, but I didn't think anyone would mind. another from my vast collection of old recipe booklets (Culinary Arts Institute, Chicago, 1965 print of 1954 booklet)

as for Brodeur breaking the all-time NHL shutout record tonight...I was all excited watching the Bruins win their first in 5 games with a 2-0 shutout over the Senators, and remembered just in time to try to find a feed again of the Devils at Penguins game. I'd had one early and it vanished. with 4 minutes left in the game, Devils were up 4-0, and I got ready to take lousy screenshots of history!

Happy Holidays, indeed. the Pens fans saw their team shut out at home in the last regular season appearance of the Devils in Mellon Arena. the hometown crowd sullenly applauded the accomplishment...

 

congratulations! and even though baking cookies is more my style, I could be convinced to try to make that fudge for the Blackhawks @ Red Wings game-watching get-together this week...