Huet, Blackhawks beat Devils 5-1

The numbers say Martin Brodeur is the best goalie of all time - 582 career wins and 105 shutouts, both NHL records.

But Brodeur had no answer for the buzzing Blackhawks on Thursday.

One night after Brodeur shut out Pittsburgh and Sidney Crosby, the Hawks got after him for 2 goals in the first period on their way to a 5-1 victory at the United Center.

Hawks goalie Cristobal Huet, who had an off night in Tuesday's loss at Dallas, rebounded with a strong performance as the Hawks improved their record on home ice to 18-4-1, with Saturday's game at St. Louis marking the halfway point in the season.

"I take pride in trying to rebound after a bad game," Huet said. "I try to take away the negative and go for a fresh start and that was the case. The team played well in front of me, too."

The Hawks had allowed 9 goals in their previous two games.

"That happens," captain Jonathan Toews said. "Everyone was concerned in those handful of games there when we weren't scoring much, but we know we have the tools in this locker room once we just get back to basics and get back to the way we play. There's no concern there."

Brodeur was good early on the Hawks' first power play, but he had no chance when Troy Brouwer crashed the net to score on the next power play at 14:44 of the opening period.

It became 2-0 less than two minutes later at 16:29 when the fourth line came up with a goal for the second straight game. Ben Eager went hard to the net to convert a pass from Colin Fraser.

The Hawks made it 3-0 early in the second period when Andrew Ladd scored on a 2-on-1 off a Patrick Sharp rebound at 2:12.

"I thought we had a lot of traffic, a lot of puck time in the offensive zone, a lot of different looks and some high quality chances as well," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We were busy around the net, which is what we wanted to do."

After Toews made it 4-0 early in the second period, stripping the puck from defenseman Johnny Oduya and beating Broudeur in alone, John Madden got the Hawks' fifth goal with 4:49 to play.

Madeen beat Brodeur, his former teammate of nine years, with a wrist shot, then raised his arms in pure joy and looked to the roof.

"It felt good," Madden said. "Marty's the best that's ever played, I've said that before, and anytime you score on a goalie like that you're proud of yourself."

The Hawks outshot the Devils 36-27 and killed all 3 New Jersey power plays while going 1-for-3 themselves.

"We took advantage of them playing last night, but I thought tonight's game was pretty complete," Quenneville said.

"They certainly made us look tired tonight," Brodeur said.

"You can't do much against a team that has the puck most of the night," said New Jersey's Jamie Langenbrunner, whose goal with 1:33 to play ruined Huet's bid for his fourth shutout.

"They're very dangerous. They may be very fun to watch, but they're very hard to play against. They outplayed us most of the game."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Tim Sassone's game tracker</p>

<p class="News">Blackhawks 5, Devils 1</p>

<p class="News"><b>Three stars</b></p>

<p class="News">1. Cristobal Huet, Hawks: Made 13 of his 26 saves in the second period in a strong bounce back performance from Tuesday in Dallas.</p>

<p class="News">2. Jonathan Toews, Hawks: A goal, assist, 6 shots and 3 hits for the captain.</p>

<p class="News">3. Brent Sopel, Hawks: The veteran defenseman was plus-3 in more than 16 minutes with 2 hits and 2 blocked shots.</p>

<p class="News"><b>Wait and see</b></p>

<p class="News">Hawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson left the game early in the third period when he was struck by a puck while on the bench, suffering a cut around his ear.</p>

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