Home, Sweet Home | NOTEBOOK

The Devils were back on their home practice rink ice on Wednesday morning, fresh off of traveling back from Western Canada on Tuesday.

On their most recent road swing, the Devils twice shut out their opponents, and in their lone loss of the trip, were playing in a 0-0 game until the final five minutes. New Jersey continue to piece together the structure and system to build toward long-term, sustainable success, all a step-by-step process.

“Obviously, we were 2-1; we could still be better, though," Brett Pesce said after practice. "I think we’re still getting used to our system and whatnot. Just carrying momentum even when we’re not at our best and finding ways to win games. Obviously, goaltending has been big for us. These guys have been rock solid, I can’t say enough about them. It’s important to get points at the beginning of these games because, obviously, it all adds up. Just continue to find ways to win.”

Check out the Devils Notebook for the latest info, updates, interviews, videos and more from the practice session!

Home, but Away

When the Devils host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night, head coach Sheldon Keefe wants his team to look at the game as an extension of their swing through Western Canada.

"My approach in coming back from long road trips is usually maintain a bit of that mindset, in terms of how we prepare," Keefe said following Wednesday's 35-minute practice. "It was a very short practice today for the same kind of reason. This day here, especially after traveling back yesterday, it really is a bit of an extension of the road trip itself. From a mindset point of view, we’re still on the road here and we’re going to have to have that mindset and bring it to home ice.”

For Keefe, the way his team played in Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton and the attention to executing the game plan should display to his team that their attention to playing within the system is a necessity that can be carried over as the team returns to play on home ice.

The Devils head coach shared how that 'road-at-home mindset' needs to work.

“I think for me, when you get out on the road, the only focus is to play a good, hard, sound game. (You) go into that game expecting that the opposition is going to be at their best because they’re going to be on home ice, and the priority is just to execute the gameplan, and that’s really it," he shared. "I find that on home ice in a lot of our games, we haven’t had the same type of mentality.

"It’s almost like we have to prove something on home ice," he continued. "But we really just have to go out and be who we are. Do the things we’ve done really well, embrace that, and continue to clean up the smaller things so we can get us close to that 60-minute performance that we’re looking for, as possible.”

A Good Guy

No one was more excited to join the Devils this past off-season than Tarrytown, NY native Brett Pesce. Having played his youth hockey in New Jersey, he knew what hockey was like in the area and was ready to embrace it as a professional.

It's one thing to be excited to play in New Jersey, it's another to be excited and a player who has the valued talent like Pesce does.

He just does so many things well. Just ask Stefan Noesen, who was a teammate of Pesce in Carolina with the Hurricanes.

"You see how good he is on that ice? In Carolina, we always had a thing called “Hands Team”; he was the primary suspect for a lot of those," Noesen said. "Any time there’s a puck in the air he was batting it down, knocking it down. He’s got such a good stick; he closes gaps really well. Defensively, he’s just so sound. We’re really lucky to have him.”

He also has the character that general manager Tom Fitzgerald values in the players that he brings into the fold. He is, everyone shares, a really good person to be around.

“He’s a great presence, very calm guy, that comes through his experience, his personality," Keefe said. "But he’s also a people person. He’s talking to everyone and helps the vibe of the team. And then he just brings on the ice, consistency, reliability, so it’s been really nice to have him.”