Looks Strange Doesn't It?

After 21 Years, Brodeur Wears New Colors

It was announced earlier today that the best goalie to ever play in the NHL, based on statistics, has been signed to a one year contract by the St. Louis Blues. It will be the first time that Martin Brodeur will wear colors other than that of New Jersey in his career.

Brodeur, now 42 years old, is pushing to become the first goalie in NHL history to reach 700 victories in his Hall of Fame career. Right now, Brodeur sits at 688 victories, and signing with a Stanley Cup contender desperate for goalies right now, Brodeur may once again hit another milestone in his career.

It will be different, and seemingly not right to see him in colors that are not New Jersey Devils black, red, and white, but Its time to see if Marty still has it after sitting out for a few months.

Martin Brodeur goalie with his eye on the puck.

Photographed the #NJDevils vs #nyrangers tonight in Jersey. Nice building. Photo : #brodeur eyes the puck #NHL pic.twitter.com/yIgswySTRL
— Brian Babineau (@babsphoto) March 23, 2014

New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur eyes the puck, literally. Awesome picture.

New Jersey Devils: Martin Brodeur's amazing save

What an amazing save by New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur. Looks like he wasn't even looking. The Devils would beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1.

(Video) Damien Brunner Great Goal vs Ottawa Senators

New Jersey Devils forward Damien Brunner scores a beautiful goal against the Ottawa Senators, but the refs should have called the play dead and called a penalty. I would have been upset if I was the coach of the Senators as well. This is a blown call in my opinion.

Martin Brodeur falls getting his goalie stick

s/t to the Score. I got a chuckle out of this while I was watching this game yesterday. For a guy that's 40 years old Martin Brodeur can still move really good, and with all that equipment on. If the puck had actually gone in, it wouldn't have counted because the Pittsburgh Penguins were off-sides on the play.

Matt Greene goal against the Devils game 6

Congratulations to former Fighting Sioux defenseman Matt Greene and the Los Angeles Kings as they won the Stanley Cup four games to two over the New Jersey Devils  - with the Kings win tonight Greene became the 12th former Fighting Sioux hockey player to have his name inscribed on the Stanley Cup.  Greene was able to put some icing on the cake as he scored an unassisted goal at the 16:30 mark of the third period to push the lead to 6-1.

Ouch! Alec Martinez hit on Travis Zajac

This was a hard legal hit by former Miami RedHawk and current Los Angeles Kings defenseman Alex Martinez put a monstrous hit on former Fighting Sioux and current New Jersey Devils forward Travis Zajac during the 05:22 mark of the second period. I think it's going to be safe to say that both teams are going to take a couple of day to heal after this series is over.

Monday Links - hockey almost over for the summer.

There are a few stories of interest today on the internet about Stanley Cup Finals.

There is one thing that we know – the Stanley Cup Playoffs are going to last one or two more games and then the NHL will be in full summer mode. This season Stanley Cup Finals has been one of the most uneventful playoff series in a very long time. There has been nothing in the way of big hits that need extra scrutiny or villains like the Canucks Alex Burrows that need to be vilified.

Can Devils captain Zach Parise heat up?

After checking in with seven goals and 14 points in the first 17 games of this postseason, the production has dropped off for Parise. He doesn't have a point in five games and has a plus-minus rating of minus-five in this stretch.

"Zach's game is so much more than the stat line," Devils coach Peter DeBoer. "He's the heartbeat of our team. He's the identity of our team. He forechecks, he back-checks, he kills penalties, plays in all situations. He really is our barometer. He's the guy that makes us go, whether he's scoring or not. "Again, I don't measure his game on goals and assists. He's creating opportunities. They're eventually going to go in. He's had these type of situations before. It's tough out there right now for anybody to score. But I'm not concerned about his game. I know it's going to come." Parise twisted his left ankle in the third period of Game 4 and briefly missed some time. But he practiced on Friday and will play. DeBoer will not make any changes to his lineup. That means veteran defenceman Henrik Tallinder and forward Petr Sykora will suit up again. [Tim Wharnsby,CBC.CA]

With the win on Saturday night the Devils All-World goalie and future hall of famer added to his already
impressive total. In my opinion Martin Brodeur is one of the best goalie in my lifetime.

Brodeur has won three Stanley Cups, two Olympic gold medals, four Vezina Trophies and a Calder Trophy. He is the only goalie to put together eight 40-win seasons and no netminder has played in more games (1,191), won more (656) and recorded more shutouts (163).

With his victory on Saturday, Brodeur recorded his 17th win in a Stanley Cup final to move into a tie with New York Islanders great Billy Smith on the all-time final wins list.

25 - Jacques Plante, Montreal
24 - Ken Dryden, Montreal
21 - Turk Broda, Toronto
19 - Terry Sawchuk, Detroit (17), Toronto (2)
18 - Patrick Roy, Montreal (10), Colorado (8)
17 - Martin Brodeur, New Jersey; Billy Smith, N.Y. Islanders [Tim Wharnsby,CBC.CA]

Here is a good article by Mark Spector - Kings a distracted team

It would appear that the Phoenix Coyotes are going to be staying in Glendale, Arizona. I know, I know, we have heard this one before – it will be interesting to see how this story plays out and if the Yotes are finally going to stay in Phoenix area.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Phoenix Coyotes' long wait for an owner might finally be over.

Glendale's City Council approved a 20-year lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena on Friday, clearing the last major hurdle in the sale of the Coyotes to a group led by former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison.

The council ratified the 20-year, nearly $325 million agreement by a 4-2 vote after a sometimes-contentious six-hour meeting attended by Jamison, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly.

"We've been doing this a long time," Bettman said. "We believe this team, the Coyotes, can be here with a new ownership in place and should be here."

One of the questions facing the Kings and Devils is fatigue - Kings Fighting Fatigue, as Well as Devils

Apparently Jaromir Jagr is coming back for another season in the NHL and is close to resigning with the Flyers...

The New Jersey Devils Power Less Play went 0-15 before Parise scored on Saturday night for the Devils to give them a 1-0 lead in game 5.

Stanley Cup finals hot topic: Give 3 reasons why Devils will win Game 6

The New Jersey Devils are still in a tough spot being down three games to two.

Tom Gulitti, Fire and Ice --- “I don’t see any reason why we should be overconfident or satisfied,” Devils captain Zach Parise said. “We’re still down 3-2. We’re still in the same spot we were. One loss and we’re done. I think just having gotten a couple wins, we’re playing with more confidence, but I don’t think that’s making us feel overconfident.

We still know how great of a team they are and how much better we need to play to make this thing even go further.

Anze Kopitar's game winning goal

Here is the game winning goal in over time by the Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar. Kopitar shows his speed as he gets  behind the New Jersey Devils defense - it was off to the races - not much the goalie New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur could have done there. That was the ninth win on the road for the Los Angeles Kings during the Stanley Cup playoffs - the Kings have yet to lose in nine games that they have played on the road during the playoffs.

Zach Parise - Because It's The Cup

This was a commercial that I saw on the NHL Network tonight, it was the first time that I had seen it. Former Fighting Sioux forwards Zach Parise and Travis Zajac are one win away from putting three former Fighting Sioux players in the Stanley Cup Finals. Also, when the Stanley Cup is presented after the cup clinching game, an "American" Captain will accept the Stanley Cup.

Related articles

• Fighting Sioux own the night in Devils win

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• J.P. Parise back tracks on comments

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• Zach Parise hit on Michael Del Zotto

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Fighting Sioux own the night in Devils win

NBCSN ice level announcer/personality Pierre McGuire couldn't seem to say it enough as he kept mentioning the two outstanding players from Grand Forks, ND. While Zach Parise (2002-04) and Travis Zajac (2004-06) are former Fighting Sioux Hockey players - they never played hockey together during their time at UND. Parise left UND in 2004 after playing two season for the Fighting Sioux. Shortly there after, Zajac arrived at UND in the fall of 2004 and played two season for the Fighting Sioux as well before joining Parise in New Jersey.

That historical fact doesn't seem to matter as both players seem to have a good chemistry on the ice together as the two former Fighting Sioux forwards frustrated the New York Rangers and led the way for the New Jersey Devils beating them 4-1, Parise was named the game first star and (2g-1a—3pts). 

The empty net goal by Parise at end of the game was a thing of beauty as well as the puck appeared to have a bit of English on it and curved into the net to ice the New York Rangers.

Related articles

• Video: Parise and Zajac fatten Devils' lead

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• Brodeur, Devils show some fight in 4-1 Game 4 win

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• Devils Happy to Frustrate Rangers - ABC News

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• Rangers vs. Devils: Game 4 Highlights, Twitter Reaction and Analysis

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(Video) Brandon Prust Elbows Anton Volchenkov

How many games do you think that Rangers forward Brandon Prust be suspended for this dirty elbow on New Jersey Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov? There was no penalty called on the play but from vantage point on the coach, this appears to be a chicken wing elbow by Prust on Volchenkov and a violation of rule 48 - as I interpret this from reading the rule book - to quote Brendan Shanahan, "this is an illegal hit to the head."

48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent's head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted. However, in determining whether such a hit should have been permitted, the circumstances of the hit, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit or the head contact on an otherwise legal body check was avoidable, can be considered.

In closing, I expect that Brandon Prust will receive at least a one game suspension for his hit to the head on Volchenkov. I think the NHL has to suspend Prust because the NHL has set a precedence finally, after getting it wrong during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

While it's true Prust doesn't have a history of being a dirty player or does it appear that he has ever been suspended or fined by the NHL, neither had Claude Giroux at the time of his suspension in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Zach Parise goal against the Flyers in game three

This is the reason former Fighting Sioux forward Zach Parise is going to make a lot of money on the free agency market during this summer.  I predict that the future Wild forward is probably going to be making somewhere in the 7-10 million dollar a year range.

The Devils star Parise scored this beautiful goal in last night's game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Parise's goal at the 07:29 mark of the third period gave the Devils a brief 3-2 lead. The Flyers would even the score at the 11:04 mark of the third period with a goal from Flyers forward Danny Briere.

Related articles

• Briere, Flyers Win in Overtime
• Zach Parise on the P.A. show.

Zach Parise's waved off goal.

So did former Fighting Sioux forward Zach Parise score a legitimate goal or not? In reviewing the video it looks like the refs "may" have made the right call.  What do you think? Did the ref make the right call, or not? Why?