Penned in Pittsburgh-Penguins nip Devils 1-0

The battered and at times shorthanded New Jersey Devils hung in there in a rugged and physical battle in Pittsburgh against one of the league's better teams in the Penguins,but Evgeni Malkin scored the the only goal of the game in the third period and Pittsburgh grabbed the 1-0 win.
Cory Schneider finished the night with 22 saves,many of them excellent ones.
The Devils continued their standings freefall with their fifth straight loss and will be back on Thursday vs Toronto...

Hell Raisers

1) For whatever I would do differently with Peter DeBoer and some of the talent on this team-I would not question the effort on this night.
I get tired of hearing DeBoer remind me of former Browns coach Pat Shurmur after a loss with a mid numbing drone  of "We battled",but on this night,they did and their effort deserves respect...

2) Extremely cheap shot by Pittsburgh's Robert Bortuzzo to the head of Jaromir Jagr in the second period and ended Jagr's evening early.
It's the kind of hit that might not have been a penalty 20 years ago,but in this day and age of rules changes along with concussion issues that are illegal.
The Devils asked the referee why not a five minute major penalty-which was truly deserved and the answer was "we didn't see it".
The tape saw it and Bortuzzo will certainly hear from the league soon...

3) Loved the Jordin Tootoo comments in the locker room on Bortuzzo that if he had been on the ice,there would have been retribution and that he'll remember the number for the next game between these teams (Dec 29th by the way).
The Devils don't have enough of that type of fire....

4) Cory Schneider was fine in net.
Schneider knocked away a few odd man rushes and a shorthanded chance with no defensive help and the Malkin goal was off a backhand and he received no defensive help on the shot either.
No problems giving Schneider kudos for the quality of his game...

5) The Devils lost three players in the game-all forwards and forced the team to run just nine forwards.
Stephen Gionta,Patrik Elias and Jaromir Jagr all were removed from the game and I have no word on their injuries and status for Toronto.
Look for at least one forward (likely Reid Boucher) to be a emergency recall from Albany...

6) Scott Gomez saw lots of action in his Devils return,but as with the rest of the team,failed to dent the scoreboard.
With the current injuries on the Devils roster,I'm not against giving Gomez a try,but expecting him to be a answer after seven less than distinguished seasons is asking a lot....