PITTSBURGH – After one game, Colin White said he’s made up his mind. The Devils defenseman said he won’t be considering disability, that he’s going to keep playing despite his blurred vision.
“I’m too young,” White told The Post last night after the Devils beat the Penguins 2-1 here in his season debut. “I love the game. I love being around the guys. I love the lifestyle.
“I don’t want it to end. They’d have to drag me out. It’d hurt too much.”
White was an increasing force last night, visor protecting the right eye permanently damaged by a puck in practice Sept. 19. He was there helping kill a Penguin 5-3 in the third that could have tied the game, and out there as well, in the final minute, helping complete the victory.
“He doesn’t see everything, but he sees enough,” Martin Brodeur said. “Having him back is a big, big plus.”
White wasn’t the only factor in yesterday’s game. The usually missing power play connected twice, thanks to Zach Parise, who scored both of their goals. Before last night, they had scored one power-play goal in 34 chances in nine games during November, and allowed a short-hander.
A 5-on-3 had just become 5-on-4 when Jamie Langenbrunner found Parise at the right side of the crease. Parise, who scored the Devils’ other November power-play goal, against these same Penguins here Nov. 12, found room over the glove of Marc-Andre Fleury, short-side, 14:50 into play.
White’s return bolstered a Devils defense missing two of its top three backliners. Paul Martin remained idle with a suspected his injury while Karel Rachunek returned to New Jersey to attend the birth of his son yesterday.
White’s injury is such that he would have 20 games to decide if he can still play, before he loses disability eligibility. He said he already has decided against retiring, though his vision probably is permanently impaired.
“If I close my other eye, it’s a huge difference. But with both eyes open, the other eye takes over so much,” White said. “You get used to what you have.”
The victory was the Devils’ second straight, as long a winning streak as they have enjoyed this season, and third in a row on the road. They moved out of a share of the Atlantic Division cellar with the Penguins, who are 2-7-1 in their last 10.
Penguin coach Michel Therrien, who may be on thin ice, walked out of his press conference after giving the same to two questions.
“It is still early in the season,” Therrien said.
Brodeur held the Penguins off the scoreboard through two periods with some sharp saves, starting with Sidney Crosby’s between the legs attempt midway through the first. He gloved wide Evgeni Malkin’s backhand, and in the second, thwarted Petr Sykora’s attempt from deep on the right wing. Jordan Staal’s break to the left circle ended on Brodeur’s pads, Erik Christensen had a left-wing curl that Brodeur handled. He served notice that this was not Pittsburgh’s night by halting Sykora’s second rebound attempt off Sergei Gonchar’s point shot. Sykora had plenty of room on the short side from the side doorstep, but Brodeur reached back with his glove, and there the shot went.
The reigning and three-time Vezina Trophy winner preserved the Devils’ lead by standing up to Crosby’s short-handed breakaway with 2:28 left in the second, taking the shot in the pads.
Parise added insurance 2:33 into the third, after Crosby was penalized for a dubious trip on David Clarkson. Langenbrunner’s point shot was double-blocked to Parise in the right circle for quick deposit, moving Parise past Jay Pandolfo for the team lead with eight. Crosby was then assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for complaining about the earlier call and the goal.
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Travis Zajac left the game with a sore neck, after taking a first-period hit. . . . Mike Rupp was scratched by the Devils.
Devils 2 Penguins 1