The Devils are turning into the Boston Bruins' worst nightmare.
And Kyle Palmieri is turning into the biggest Bruin killer of them all.
Palmieri continued to do damage against a potential Trade Deadline bidder by scoring the only goal in the Devils' 1-0 win on Sunday evening at TD Garden.
A point shot from Ty Smith bounced off Palmieri's leg in front and fluttered past Boston goalie Jaroslav Halak. It was Palmieri's third goal in six games and gave the Devils a lead with 3:23 left in the first period.
A potential Bruins goal was overturned with 1:10 left in the game with David Krejci poking the puck out of Mackenzie Blackwood's glove. Blackwood made 40 saves en route to a shutout win.
A young and rebuilding Devils team has now gone 4-0-1 this season against the returning Presidents' Trophy winners. In fact, almost a third of the Devils wins this season have come at Boston's expense.
After snapping a two-game losing streak, the Devils (13-16-4) will complete a six-game road trip on Tuesday in Boston.
"I think we've kept the games (against the Bruins) tight," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said before the game. "We've been good against their top players. I think we have to continue to be good against their top players."
Of Palmieri's seven goals this year, four have come in the season series against the Bruins.
The Bruins had several chances to tie the score early in the third period when Janne Kuokkanen was called for a double minor after clipping Charlie McAvoy in the face. The Devils were hemmed in their own end for long periods of time, but came away unscathed with Blackwood stopping a pair of Nick Ritchie shots from in close.
Ruff said it helped to have a day off on Saturday after a stretch of five games in seven days.
"(Saturday) was really important," Ruff said. "When you look at playing the number of games we did in the number of days, just to rest and get your mind away from the game and try to re-energize and play the game that we know we need to play."
"That's a fast game, a game that we can back the opposition off and use our skating ability."
The Bruins were playing without their points leader in Brad Marchand. The All-Star winger is one of three Boston regulars on the COVID protocol list, along with Sean Kuraly and Jake DeBrusk. Bruin goalie Tuukka Rask missed his second straight game due to an upper-body injury.
