Kyle Palmieri Shines In Front Of Home Crowd

Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

If you didn’t notice, Anaheim Ducks forward Kyle Palmieri had quite the game against the New Jersey Devils. Credited with a goal and an assist, his goal the game winner in overtime – he also aided in the Cam Fowler goal with a screen on goaltender Corey Schneider, making it impossible for the goalie to see Fowler’s shot until it was too late.

You can see Palmieri jumping in a differen gear lately, and it accumulated into his performance against the Devils. It probably didn’t hurt that he had nearly 100 friends and family, and even got to see his high school team practice before the game.

His heightened level doesn’t seem to be going unnoticed as he saw nearly one-third of his 15 minutes of ice time on the power play. All though the Ducks were shutout in the power play goals category, his hustle helped the otherwise stagnant man advantage.

With the game tied at one in the third however, Palmieri took it upon himself to break the tie, taking the puck and flying down the wing and making a beautiful power move to create enough space to get the puck in front of the net so that center Mathieu Perreault can finish the play off. The Ducks had their lead.

But Palmieri was called upon once again with the game tied, this time in overtime. Pulling the same move this time that he did last – except he threw in a wrinkle this time, he took the puck behind the net instead of centering the puck.

On the wraparound the puck hit a defenders stick and deflected into the net, game – Ducks, capping off a perfect homecoming with a highlight reel goal.

https://twitter.com/AnaheimDucks/status/414224755542462464

It definitely added something. Throughout the season you get little stories like this that builds up, and by the end of the season you look back at they all have added up to a truly special season.

Anthony Murphy is the Editor at Pucks of a Feather. You can reach him by email amurphy540@pullinamurph.com or follow him on Twitter @AMurphyTFC.