New Jersey Devils 5, Wild 3; Langenbrunner nets first career hat trick

What a weekend for Jamie Langenbrunner.

On Friday, the 34-year-old's put on a super-young U.S. Olympic roster on the same day a bunch of American stalwarts were essentialy retired. If there was anybody out there questioning Langenbrunner's inclusion on that team, he then responds by notching his first career hat trick in a 5-3 win over the Wild.

Langenbrunner, who hails from Cloquet, had never before even scored a professional goal in Minnesota (OK, a shootout goal here once). And he does this with tons of family and friends in the crowd.

He said he was able to hear all his Cloquet supporters screaming all night.

Wild played well tonight, but every mistake pretty much ended up in its net. Coach Jacques Lemaire flipped after the game about how bad the Devils played. Brian Rolston, Rob Niedermayer and others went on and on about how the Wild played well and how they kept coming and kept pressuring and deserved better.

But Marty Brodeur was Marty Brodeur. I got a tweet from somebody saying that boy, Brodeur's getting lucky tonight. And I don't mean to single anybody out because trust me, I don't mean this as disrespect. But unless you get to watch Brodeur nightly -- and most Wild fans don't get that opportunity because your team's in the West -- you'd know Brodeur wasn't getting lucky tonight.

He's a rare hybrid, a mix between stand-up, butterfly and his own unorthodox style. Oh, and in an age of super-sized padded goalies, Brodeur wears pads the size of pinkies. So he plays the game like no other goalie in the NHL, and because of that, he looks lucky sometimes. But he's just that darn good, and tonight, as Devils players said, he saved their behind. He stuffed the Wild left and right on redirections and point-blank chances, and it came with his teenage son Anthony in the crowd. He tends goal as a freshman at Shattuck-St. Mary's.

Yet the Wild didn't do a good job with soft dumps into the corners where Brodeur couldn't play it, which would have resulted in more forechecks. They often tried hard rims or shot it right at Brodeuir, which is always asking for trouble. Take Langenbrunner's first goal, a power-play one-timer. Four Wild penalty killers were dead tired. Kyle Brodziak made a great play to gain possession but unfortunately shot it right at Brodeur on a clear. Only Owen Nolan got to the bench because Brodeur played it right up to the far blue line. Brodziak, Zidlicky and Zanon got trapped, and 10 seconds later, 2-zip New Jersey.

The Wild fought back valiantly on goals by Eric Belanger and Mikko Koivu, Koivu's coming with 38 seconds left. But the Wild has a horrendous habit of terrible shifts after goals. Thirty-four seconds later, with 3 1/2 seconds left in the period, Langenbrunner got a loose puck that was just out of the reach of Belanger and by a turned-around Kim Johnsson. 3-2.

Terribly deflating because seconds later, it would have been the Wild going to the dressing room with all the momentum. In the third, Rob Niedermayer, always a horse on the forecheck, drove the net from the corner to set up Jay Pandolfo's eventual winner. Andrew Brunette, who was robbed all night by Brodeur, scored one to cut it to 4-3 late, but Langenbrunner popped in the empty netter.

Now, the Wild's lost three in a row for the first time since losing five in a row in early October. All that work gained in December is going down the tubes as they're losing ground again. They lost two in a row at home for the first time this season and lost two in a row in regulation at home for the first time since last January. They've given up at least four goals in three straight games for the first time since Feb. 2008.

Wild will have an optional Sunday, then fly to Chicago for the rest of the father-son/mentors trip. It actually started tonight.

-- Eric Belanger has six points in his last six games.

--Martin Havlat had an assist and has a four-game point streak and points in 10 of his last 12 games.

--Marek Zidlicky had two assists and has six helpers in his last five games.

--The crowd of 19,155 was the largest since Opening Night after the lockout.

--The Wild is 1-5-4 all-time vs. the Devils, the only NHL opponent it doesn't have at least two wins against.

--The Wild's given up the first goal in 17 of the last 23 games.

--The Wild gave up two power-play goals and has allowed a PPG in four straight games, five of the last 10 chances.

--Derek Boogaard was a healthy scratch for James Sheppard, who played extremely well in front of his old doghouse landlord, Jacques Lemaire. Clayton Stoner returned from a groin injury and John Scott was scratched.

-- -I need Pierre-Marc Bouchard to badly get back on the ice and play. He sits in the box above me and emulates how I type. It's very unnerving. "I thought for a writer you'd type better."

-- Congrats to Wild radio personality Kevin Falness, whose wife, Melissa, gave birth to their first child, a 7-pound, 11-ounce, boy, Brayden Roy, at 2:14 a.m. New Year's Day.