Devils Practice Before Hosting Rangers | NOTEBOOK

The Devils are practicing Sunday afternoon at Prudential Center before hosting the New York Rangers Monday afternoon.

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

Practice Info

The Devils started the morning by returning Colton White to Utica of the American Hockey League. He will also participate for Canada at the Spengler Cup tournament.

Center Curtis Lazar, who missed the past two games with a knee injury, is on the ice practicing with his teammates.

Lots of line changes. The Devils are trying to spark some offense.

As noted by Amanda Stein, "if you go back to last night's game, Devils HC Keefe already used these combinations of the first and third line,while also reverting the what we've seen on a more regular basis. So this is not all new."

Get 'Em Going

Cotter has seven goals this season, which match his total from last year in 76 games played with Vegas. However, he hasn’t scored since Nov. 12 at Florida. He’s on a 17-game goalless drought.

Cotter did register an assist Thursday in Columbus, which snapped a 15-game point drought.

But the coaches aren’t burying him in the lineup. Instead, they’re playing him alongside Jack Hughes to try and spark his offense.

“It’s the first time in my career that I’ve been shown that the coaching staff has confidence,” Cotter said. “I might be going through a drought right now, but they realize my potential and value to the team. So, it’s ‘how do we get Paul going a little bit?’

“For (head coach Sheldon Keefe) to show that trust in me is all you can ask for as a player. I’m just hoping I can give back.”

Mercer has seven goals and 16 points through 36 games. He has two points (1g-1a) in his last eight games, with both points coming against Chicago on Dec. 14.

Shot Limit

The Devils shutout Pittsburgh, 3-0, Saturday night. New Jersey surrendered just 12 shots on goal in the game. It marked the sixth straight game in which the Devils allowed 20 or less shots in a game, and the seventh time in the past eight games.

“We’ve done a really good job, there were 12 shots last night. That’s pretty cool to see,” Cotter said. “At the start of the year we were trying to figure everything out. We have a lot of skill guys and different players that fill in different spots. It seems we’ve put it together pretty good. We have a great defensive style, we have a great offensive style. We can rely on the structure, which is what I think we did last night.”

In the past six games, the Devils have given up a total of 100 shots, or 16.67 shots per game. They’ve adopted a defense-first mentality.

“We are a little more bullet proof in the neutral zone. The system fits now,” defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler said. “You can really see it. Teams don’t get a lot. They have a hard time getting through the neutral zone. We’re doing a good job with pressuring them and standing up and forcing them to make a dump or the wrong play. That’s what we’ve been trying to do. I think we’re in a good stretch. We just have to keep going.”

It's no surprise the Devils are 4-1-1 in those six games.

“I think everything comes together,” Siegenthaler said, “if we work as a team, as a unit, we can get great results.”