The Luck of the Irish for the Devils

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

It was a very successful St. Patrick’s Day for the New Jersey Devils. They got to wear their throw back red and green jerseys and they skated to a 2-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Cory Schneider turned away all 35 shots he saw en route to his fifth shutout of the season. It was a strong effort by the whole team as they worked to preserve the shutout and the slim one goal lead that on which it was propped. It’s certainly easier to not give up goals when you don’t give the other team any power play opportunities and the Devils went the whole game without being shorthanded for the first time since March 23, 2012.

The Devils scored once with Thomas Greiss in the net for Pittsburgh, as Jacob Josefson scored his fifth goal of the year, and once with him sitting on the bench as Adam Henrique scored his 16^th of the year into the empty net. It was another game in which the Devils were out shot by at least 15 pucks — 35 for Pittsburgh, 19 for New Jersey — but in this case, it was about quality and not quantity.

Cory Schneider was proud of his team’s effort in front of him. “I’ve said from beginning that despite our record and how we’ve done, I don’t think we’ve ever given up,” he said after the game.

Schneider is already making Devils history, the shutout over the Penguins was the 8^th of his Devils career tying him for second in franchise history with Johan Hedberg.

There was certainly no quit in the Devils. They played a playoffs-bound Pittsburgh Penguins team very tough and came away with a hard fought victory. With efforts like this from the Devils maybe they’ll want to seriously consider bringing the red and green jerseys back for the rest of the year!