By Allan Muir

The Devils knew Martin Brodeur would make an impact in his return to action Thursday night. They just didn’t realize it would be on the power play.

Making his first start since Feb. 21, the 40-year-old sniper opened the scoring in New Jersey’s 4-1 win over the Hurricanes. He picked up a loose puck behind his net, dashed into the neutral zone, pirouetted through a phalanx of defenders and then went roof daddy on the ghost of Jacques Plante.

Alright, that might be the story he tells the grand kids, but the reality wasn’t quite that spectacular. Brodeur was credited with the tally as the last Devil to touch the puck before Jordan Staal’s hard pass to the point caromed off the boards and down the ice into the cage that had been vacated by Dan Ellis moments earlier because of a delayed penalty call on New Jersey.

It was the third goal Brodeur has earned over his career, but the first ever on the power play. In fact, he’s just the second goalie to score on the PP–Evgeni Nabokov was the first back in 2002.

And how’s this for the ice-leveling powers of the hockey gods: the last goalie to light the lamp? Carolina’s Cam Ward, who was credited with a goal last season when New Jersey’s Ilya Kovalchuk sent the puck the length of the ice into his own net.

Although to hear Ward tell it…

By Allan Muir

Another day, another brutal call in the NHL.

But this one doesn’t fall on the on-ice officials.

This time it was the league’s video review team that botched it, taking away an apparent game-tying goal from Toronto’s Tyler Bozak. Take a look at the video above, and then read the official ruling below, courtesy of the NHL’s Situation Room Blog:

At 18:44 of the second period in the Hurricanes/Maple Leafs game, video review determined that Toronto forward Tyler Bozak directed the puck into the net with his right skate. According to rule 49.2 “A goal cannot be scored by an attacking player who uses a distinct kicking motion to propel the puck into the net.” No goal Toronto.

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