NHL

Matteau, Matteau to Devs in first round

The Devils embraced one of their worst-ever moments, the one they thought they put to bed last month, by drafting rambunctious forward Stefan Matteau, as in Son Of, with their first-round pick in the NHL Draft Friday night in Pittsburgh.

“We may not let the father come to the games, but we wanted the son,” general manager Lou Lamoriello told The Post last night. Lamoriello told The Post Thursday that he would be looking for size and strength in the draft, and wasn’t kidding.

On the day the Devils landed next year’s draft in Newark, Lamoriello used his 29th overall pick on Matteau, the most-penalized player (166 minutes) among first-round selections. The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder with the U.S. national development team plays a bowling ball, knock ’em down, knock it in style of game that sometimes gets out of hand.

“This was a no-brainer,” Lamoriello said. “He was right at the top of our list, size and strength, as I told you, and he has an edge.

“He’d rather go through you than go around.”

Matteau did not object.

“That’s a perfect fit and a perfect description,” said Matteau, who expects to play in the Quebec junior league next season and for the U.S. in tournaments.

Father Stephane Matteau scored the double-overtime goal that knocked out the Devils in Game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference semifinals, sending the Rangers to their only Stanley Cup in the past 72 years. Howie Rose’s call of “Matteau, Matteau, Matteau” has haunted the Devils, even as they won three Stanley Cups since.

Lamoriello said he quashed qualms expressed among his staff at picking Matteau.

“The name could not get in the way. It was brought up in our meeting [Thursday],” said Lamoriello, who also said he would have taken Matteau even if they didn’t beat the Rangers in the semis last month.

Matteau allowed that being taken by the Devils “is a surprise, somewhat.”

Meanwhile, unless the Devils are willing to play host to next June’s draft without their own first-round pick, or someone else’s, they’ll be forfeiting their 2014 first-rounder to fulfill their punishment for “circumventing” the salary cap with the 2010 signing of Ilya Kovalchuk.

The NHL yesterday announced the Devils will become the first Metropolitan area team to host the draft next June 28-29.

Neither the Rangers nor the Islanders have hosted the draft, which will move to Philadelphia in 2014.

Lamoriello has repeatedly said the team had already decided to keep last night’s 29th pick when the deadline for forfeiture passed, the day after Game 6 of the finals, scant hours after the Devils landed from Los Angeles.

Unless the Devils reach the finals next season or in 2014, last night’s pick will be the latest available for surrender during that four-year window. The surrendered pick must be their own, not an acquisition.

Saturday, the Devils have six picks, 60th (second round), 90th (third), 96th (fourth), 135th and 150th (fifth) and 180th (sixth).