Nine The Hard Way
Continuing with the craps-inspired titles for Devils games recaps, tonight’s winner was the 9th goal in a 5-4 slide by the Penguins. This game was an eleven on the weird scale: Double minors that cancelled out. A 2-on-0 goal waved off because there were approximately 17 players on the ice at the time, at least according to the referree who was behind the play (now that’s position hockey that helps us!). A goal scored through a scrum in front of Fleury — clearly not everybody was on the ice because the puck slid through the bottom of the fleshpile. A 2-goal lead squandered by the Devils, and again they played catch-up to win. Six consecutive penalties on the Penguins, including the “too many men” un-goaling. And finally, a nice stick save by Oduya on a rebound.
Somehow, I don’t think the Devils are going to Primanti Brothers down on the “Strip” to celebrate this one. They’re likely to have rocks, pucks, sticks, Pittsburgh Pirates equipment, and possibly several Carnegie Mellon students flying at them. Instead they get to suffer a worse fate: they’re going to Philadelphia.