Devils whitewashed in Montreal

No excuses.
That is the tale of this visit to Montreal and a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Canadiens.
I missed the first period and half of the second with volleyball commitments,but from what I saw.it was a simple matter of one team outplaying the other.
It was not due to lack of effort,as I thought the Devils were still playing hard late into the contest,but Carey Price was dynamite (insert Jimmy Walker pic here)with 38 saves in the net for Montreal,the Canadiens played well enough that the referees were not even needed to do much.
As a matter of fact,the refs were rarely visible,as just two penalties were called against each team.

Marty Brodeur allowed 4 goals,but watching the goals on replay, one could argue that 3 of the 4 Montreal goals were not in any way his fault.
The Bryan Smolinski goal was just one of those perfect "I have no chance in hell of stopping this" shots and the other two were aided by little help from the blueliners.
All in all,a bad game.
But not a bad effort and that means something,I suppose.
The Devils travel to Minnesota on Thursday for a 8:00 game against their "cousins' the Wild.

Bullpen notes-All Bucco edition

Today will be paced by Pirates notes and thoughts,as not much else seems to be going on.

I am puzzled and yet intrigued by the full-time move of Steven Pearce to the outfield.
I agree that he seems to be blocked by Adam LaRoche at first,but I would think it would be easier to fill in at first and right and gather at bats that way than be a one position player for now.
I realize that Neal Huntington is parroting the company line on Pearce returning to Indianapolis,but something tells me that a trade could be in the works for Jason Bay or Xavier Nady (more likely Nady) that would create time for a suddenly full time fly chasing Pearce.

I know that little can please Pirate fans at this stage,but a Pearce to right field and Xavier Nady to the bench (as a super utility type) or elsewhere move would go a long way to showing that the Pirates have a PLAN instead of PR talk for the future.
I can completely understand (and agree with) sending Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen back down,but Pearce is older and has nothing left to prove there.

A few days back,the Pirates sent a whole slew of pitchers to minor league camp,most notably top pick Daniel Moskos.
I have heard that Moskos will be assigned to either Hickory or Lynchburg (I have read different reports that claim both) and will be a starter.
I think that not only that Moskos was thought as a starter by other teams entering last years draft,but that making him a starter takes some of the heat brought on him away by fans (us included) for the boneheaded decision of Captain Dave Littlefield to select a reliever so high in the draft.
Smart move,like it or not-Moskos is in the organization and our knock was not on a lack of talent.
Moskos was rated by most as a top 15 pick and by just about everyone as a first rounder.
The problem was that he was not the best player on the board (Matt Wieters) or even the best left handed pitcher (Ross Detwiler) when the Pirates selected at the 4th selection in the
draft.

The other interesting cut was AAA reliever Jesse Chavez.
Not that he was returned to Indianapolis,but that he was returned so quickly.
I thought he would be in the big camp longer.

And finally a nice word for our Pirates.
The Buccos and PNC Park are going green with several pro-environment plans for the stadium and organization this season.
These range from placing 180 new recycling containers around the park to using cups that are made from corn-based materials that will then enable all plastic cups and utensils to no longer be used at PNC Park.
The front office will begin to cut their paper usage by using paper that has been recycled.
I realize that none of this helps the Pirates win one game,but at least they are doing the right thing for our planet even if they are not always doing the right thing for our ball club.
Great move,guys.

Photo Credits
Hockey-Ryan Remiorz-AP Photo/Canadian Press
Pearce-Lynchburg Hillcats
Moskos-Topps