MORNING SKATE RECAP
NEWARK, NJ - Heading into tonight's game against the Washington Capitals, the Devils had no changes to their lineup from the win in Ottawa with one notable exception:
Cotter - Hughes - Beckman
Meier - Hischier - Mercer
Tatar - Haula - Noesen
Palat - Lazar - Bastian
Dillon - Hamilton
Siegenthaler - Kovacevic
Casey - Nemec
Hughes - Pesce
Markstrom
Allen
Adam Beckman skated on the top line with Paul Cotter and Jack Hughes as Jesper Bratt did not skate.
"He's dealing with an illness," Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Bratt. "He was in the building this morning and in our meeting but we felt we wouldn't put him on the ice this morning and we'll make a decision after warm-up."
The other notable from morning skate was the pairing of Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce, two injured players. Both are not ready to return, but Keefe said it was a postiive sign that they were skating with the group.
"The schedule being what it's been, we haven't had the practice time," he said. "It's a way for us to get them out with the group and more players than they'd see in a rehab skate."
DILLON'S 900TH
One defenseman who will play is Brenden Dillon and it will be the 900th game of his NHL career. Keefe talked about the blueliner, who's off to a good start with two assists and a +3 rating with 11 penalty minutes in seven games.
"I would say he's met my expectations. From a distance, you make a judgement on a player when you don't know him. He's a guy who you expect to be a guy that's team first. He's going to be a competitor at his root. That's what I've seen right from my very first phone conversation with him, he's all about the team and focused on winning. Doing everything he can to help the team grow and compete," said Keefe, adding that he's delivered for him in every area.
REMATCH WITH THE CAPS
The Devils know they'll be playing a motivated opponent after they spoiled the Caps' season and home opener last Saturday.
"It was one of our better games offensively we've had. How we managed the puck, made some plays and had real access to the net. Part of that was that it was Washington's first game. They've cleaned some stuff up and responded well since then so we're expecting a far different looking Washington team (tonight), no question," said Keefe.
Since the loss, the Caps defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 and Dallas Stars 3-2.
"They beat two good teams," stated Tomas Tatar. "It's going to be a tough match. It's going to be a different team. We have to be on top of our game. We had a very good game in Washington. We still want to improve and get better. We're expecting a hard game."
Dillon added that if the shoe was on the other foot, the Devils would be looking to avenge the loss in a big way.
"We'd be hungry, we'd be aggressive and coming in with our best foot forward tonight," he said.
"Anytime you're playing (a team again) whether it's a playoff game or back-to-back regular season game, if you won or lost you know you're going to up your game. It was Washington's first game of the season, we know how that went for us at home, too. It wasn't our best. We know they're going to be better and looking at how they've played since they played us, they won and played two good teams."
OFFENSE THE FOCUS
Tatar added that one thing he feels the team could improve on is their time spent in the offensive zone, which would result in more scoring opportunities.
"Defensively, we're playing well. We're still trying to create more offense. There's some areas we're working on. It was a hard road trip, a lot of travel. We had a day off and hopefully we can recharge and bring a lot of energy tonight," Tatar pointed out. "We're spending very little time in the O-zone. We're trying to open a lot of different options to try and create something or extend the period of time in their O-zone."
