PRE-GAME STORY
OTTAWA, ON - After a lengthy and high-paced practice on Thursday the Devils held an optional skate this morning at Canadian Tire Centre. Both goaltenders, Vitek Vanecek and Nico Daws, while skaters Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, Ondrej Palat, Curtis Lazar, Erik Haula, Simon Nemec, Luke Hughes, Nathan Bastian, Chris Tierney and Colin Miller rounded out those who skated this morning.
Because of the optional skate tonight's lineup against the Senators will only be available when the team hits the ice for warmups at 6:27 p.m.
Bahl's 100th
Defenseman Kevin Bahl will be playing in his 100th NHL game tonight, coming full circle in a city where he started his junior career. Bahl played four seasons with the Ottawa 67s in the Ontario Hockey League before he was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes. On Thursday night Bahl and his Ottawa bilet family got together for dinner.
"It’s awesome," Bahl said, "I wanted to make sure I went out to see her."
The 23-year-old has invited his billet family to the game tonight and they'll be in attendance, most certainly wearing Devils gear. It's also a good reminder, he adds, about how important billet families are to a young player and helping them reach the next phase of their lives and careers.
"It’s something special," he said, "you’re going to a new city when you’re 14-,15-, 16 years old and you’ve got to move in and feel welcome and comfortable. It’s like your new parents, your new guardian."
While Bahl has certainly grown up from those days in junior hockey, his game has also matured over the past two seasons. Last year, Bahl found himself in and out of the lineup, playing 42 games of the 82-game schedule. This season, he's played in all 33 games the team has played. Sticking in the lineup and making the appropriate adjustments to his game has been the biggest area of growth.
"I’m trying to be more defensively reliable, that’s my big thing," Bahl shared, "That’s my strength. You know, consistency, that’s how you stay in the lineup."
"I think his understanding of what you need to bring game in, game out," head coach Lindy Ruff shared of Bahl's progression, "The details of how the system works, the physicality to end plays, when he can end plays, all that is improving. He’s a young man that is still early in his career that has to continue to grow.”
