PRE-GAME STORY
SEATTLE - After an exciting 6-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks that was probably more entertaining than anyone on the Devils wanted it to be, the club was back on the ice Thursday morning in preparation for the Seattle Kraken, stop two of four on this western road trip.
Lines during the skate were:
Haula - Hughes - Toffoli
Palat - Hischier - Bratt
Meier - Mercer - Holtz
Smith - McLeod - Lazar - Bastian
Siegenthaler - Nemec
Bahl - Marino
Hughes - Miller
With Brendan Smith the player on the fourth line who stayed out late following morning skate, it appears that he may not be playing despite his two-game suspension now over but Devils head coach Lindy Ruff did not confirm one way or the other in his post-skate media availability.
READY FOR KRAKEN
Seattle is a team that played the Devils tough last season but this year they've had some struggles. Most recently, they've lost their last five games (0-4-1 with one shootout setback). But as the Devils learned last week against San Jose, they can't take any opponent lightly. Particularly an opponent that they know is a talented squad ready to break out.
“They’re a team that plays with a lot of speed. They get their defense involved. Once they’re inside the zone, a lot of motion so our reads have to be good,” said Devils head coach Lindy Ruff.
Captain Nico Hischier was asked what the keys to the game were.
“Play very simple," he said. "They’re going to forecheck us hard. They’re a hard team to play against. They battle. Never an easy game so we’ve got to come out and be ready for the get-go. They’ve lost a few in row so we need to be right there to match their intensity.”
Dawson Mercer echoed the thoughts of his captain, noting that the team lost to Seattle last season 4-3 in overtime -- and 4-3 in a shootout the year before.
“Last year they had a big game when we came in here. Tough building to play in," he said of an arena the Devils have yet to win in. "Good fans, good atmosphere. Their team works really hard.”
CONTINUING TO CONVERT
One thing the Devils did very well in Vancouver was get to the net and capitalize on loose pucks in and around the crease.
“You’ve got to get there to score goals," said Hischier. "A lot of goals happen in this league like that. Shots from the point, deflections, rebounds, all sorts of stuff like that. Getting in front of the goalie’s eyes, that’s important as well.
“Move your feet, find the open space, communicate. All little things we work on in practice.”
Mercer added that those goals in front of the net have an even greater chance of happening when pucks get in from the point.
“I love it when it gets through. I don’t want it to get blocked. It doesn’t even have to get on net, it can just get down below the goal line and then we can make another play on it.”
Breaking out of their own zone is also something that can contribute to getting the puck more often -- and opportunities that come with it.
“We want to keep the puck moving, play with speed," Mercer continued. "That’s our strength. Whenever we have the puck on our stick that’s a good thing. We want to make sure that when we get the puck back in our zone we want to keep it and attack with speed.”
But, Lindy Ruff cautioned, you can do all the right things in front of the net and breaking out of your own zone but if breakdowns come they can completely nullify all the good.
“We had a real solid first period going until the last read of the first period," Ruff noted. "One play really almost ruins your feeling about the period but it had been a good period up to that point.”
