Road Trippin'
The Devils are headed on a two-game road trip against Carolina (Thursday) and Tampa (Saturday). It’ll be their last two games before the bye week and All-Star break. Both teams are currently ahead of the Devils (51 points) in the playoff standings with 55 points each.
“We’re excited for the opportunity to go on the road and put ourselves in a position to go into the break and enjoy the time off but go off on a high note,” forward Tyler Toffoli said. “That’s something we’re looking forward to. It’ll be a tough challenge for sure.”
The road trip starts in Carolina against the team that eliminated the Devils in the second round of the playoffs. Though, too much time has passed for any lingering discontent.
“If we had played them earlier in the year it may have made a bigger difference,” head coach Lindy Ruff said. “Where we’re at and trying to battle to where they’re at, a number of points away, these two points can really close the gap. That’s more of what we’re focused in on.”
“We’re not going to overthink that,” Palat said of last year’s playoffs. “Everybody knows Carolina is good and hard to play against, how good their PK is. It’s going to be tough, hard-checking game. We have to be ready, especially defensively.
“We’re looking forward to having a good game, hopefully win and get the two points.”
In the second game, it will be another homecoming for Palat, who played his first nine-plus NHL seasons with the Lightning. However, the game doesn’t have the same feel as last year when he played his first game back.
“Last year was the first time. Right now, it feels more like a regular game,” he said.
With the dramatics aside, the Devils’ sole focus is on climbing higher into the playoff race in these next two contests.
“The two games going into the break here are big for us and we’re playing two teams we’re chasing,” Toffoli said.
