It’s not true, actually, that the Devils are always deathly dull.
These aren't the Devils of Jacques Lemaire or even Lou Lamoriello anymore. They have a handful of promising players. They skate. They create. They even score goals ... well, occasionally enough that there's one other NHL team, the Canucks, with less.
But no, really, if you've somehow pried open your eyelids after witnessing the Devils stunt the Penguins' six-game winning streak with a 3-0 shutout Thursday night at Consol Energy Center, take down a little caffeine and try to appreciate anew this bank pass from Travis Zajac to spring Kyle Palmieri on a partial break:
Pretty nifty, huh?
The old Larry Murphy billiards bank was open for business, and Palmieri made an equally fine deposit through Marc-Andre Fleury's five hole in the game's opening minute, and it was 1-0, Boring Guys.
About 15 minutes later, Palmieri struck again, this time depositing by ramming his fist through the MAC machine:
He's good. Those were his 28th and 29th goals. It was 2-0.
Which is when this happened ...
Ah, yes, the five-man retreating clothesline waiting to hang everyone out to dry. Now those are the Lemaire/Lou Devils we've all come to know and loathe, right?
Or did anyone inside or outside that venue think for so much as a split-second that the Devils were going to do anything other than park the team bus in front of their net?
That's not telling the whole tale, of course, and it's not entirely fair, at least not in one facet: Scott Wedgewood, the babyfaced 23-year-old who made his NHL debut just this past Sunday, ran up 39 saves, and he did that by standing a whole lot taller than his listed size of 6 feet. The Penguins' Bryan Rust told me he's shared summer training with Wedgewood and that "he's always played bigger than he is," and the kid did that on this night.
So OK, send all the requisite huzzahs and high marks his way.
Photos from Penguins vs. Devils at Consol Energy Center on Thursday. -- DKPS