Devils Practice in City of Angels | NOTEBOOK

The Devils are practicing in Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon. 

Stay tuned to the notebook for the latest info, updates, interviews, videos and more from the practice session!

Practice Details

The Devils had their full compliment of players for Saturday's practice at Toyota Sports Center in Los Angeles. Recently acquired forward Kurtis MacDermid will be joining the team later tonight.

Deserved Better

The Devils 4-3 loss at Anaheim Friday night was devastating for many reason. The obvious being that New Jersey is in the midst of fighting for its playoff life and every lost point could make or break that effort.

New Jersey’s 64 points are five behind Philadelphia for the third spot in the Metro Division.

But what was most disappointing is that the Devils played well overall. They outshot the Ducks by a 55-23 count. They generated countless scoring chances and even had the opportunity to tie the game with 2 seconds remaining on a penalty shot by Jack Hughes.

And in spite of their effort, they unfortunately came up with zero points to show for it.

“It was an emotional game yesterday. The effort was there. That’s all that matters,” forward Ondrej Palat said. “If we play like that, there are chances we’re going to win.”

“It’s tough. Last night was a heartbreaker,” defenseman Colin Miller said. “But the games keep coming. We have to get points where ever we can. That’s our focus, it’s tomorrow.”

The NHL is a results-based league. And the Devils did not get the result they wanted. However, they believe if they can repeat that performance the results will follow.

“If you have more nights like we did last night, the wins will come,” Miller said.

No Room for Error

The Devils loss in Anaheim cuts both ways. On the one hand, the team can feel good about their effort and performance, as noted above. But on the other hand, it shows that even if the Devils play very well, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be rewarded for that effort.

And with 22 games left in the season, time is of the essence to make up ground in the playoff chase.

“It does show that the margin of error is pretty slim and you have to tilt it your way all the time,” head coach Lindy Ruff said. “There are a lot of different ways you can lose a game in this league. You can lose it by a bad penalty late. You can lose it by the other team’s goaltender being great. You can lose it by missing a lot of great opportunities inside of a game.

“You have to put that (loss) behind you. We had an opportunity late in the game to tie it up and give ourselves a chance to win in overtime. We have to put that behind us and get ready for the game tomorrow at noon.”

It’s not hyperbolic to say that the Devils are essentially in the playoffs right now. Every game has immense importance and magnitude.

“Every game you have to feel that way,” Ruff said. “It’s one of those situations where every play has to mean something to you, whether it’s being in the shot lane, whether it’s your backcheck. All of those little plays are big this time of year.”

Leadership

The Devils signed forward Ondrej Palat last season for exactly this type of situation. And the 11-year NHL veteran has an ‘A’ on his chest for a reason.

“In Tampa we had our ups and downs. It’s going to work like that,” Palat said of his tenure with the Lightning, where he won two Stanley Cups. “The other team wants to win against us too. It’s a hard league to win in.”

Palat is trying to lead by example with his play on the ice. And that means doing a lot of the little things right.

“I’m trying to do the little things right. Play good defensively,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. Blocked shots, defensive plays, backcheck, offensive play. I’m trying the whole season to be a leader on the ice. I’d love to score more goals, but there are areas where we need to be better like defense. I’m just trying to bring that.

“It’s not just me, it’s about the whole team.”

They Said It: 

Palat on mistakes: “We would love to not make as many mistakes. It just seems every mistake we make the other team scores. It works like that sometimes. We need to stick with the plan, stick without structure and limit those mistakes. We need to learn from our mistakes and go from there.”

Miller: “A younger group but we’re still hungry. There’s a lot we still have to play for. We still have an opportunity to go out every night and show what we’re capable of.”