Devils Hold Leap Day Practice | NOTEBOOK

The Devils are practicing Wednesday afternoon at Anaheim's Honda Center. 

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

Practice Details

Defenseman Brendan Smith was the only player absent from the team's practice.

"A little banged up from last game," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "We’ll see where he’s at for tomorrow (against Anaheim)."

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Under Pressure

The Devils are well aware of their situation. They know they’re in a difficult spot in the standings. They sit on the outside looking in. New Jersey (64) is five points out of both the third position in the Metro Division (Philadelphia, 69) and the second Wild Card spot (Detroit, 69).

“We got into this situation based on how we played throughout the year,” forward Jesper Bratt said. “We have to want that pressure and embrace it.”

The clock is working against the Devils as they have just 23 games remaining on the schedule to make up ground in the playoff hunt. The Devils do have a game in hand on Philly and two on Tampa. But games in hand are only good if the Devils can win and make them count.

“This is going to have to be our best stretch. We’re going to have to put our best performance in every night,” Bratt said. “It’s going to come down to details, I think the last couple games, especially on the road, we’ve played with good details. That’s going to have to go in tomorrow and for the rest of the year.”

Fun.

While the Devils are under a lot of pressure with their positioning in the standings, the team still wants to play loose and, dare I say, have fun.

“Overall, you play a lot better when you aren’t gripping that stick too tight and there’s a smile on guys’ faces,” forward Curtis Lazar said. “It’s a business. It’s a job. We want to win hockey games, but you have to have fun doing it. You have to put in the work. At the end of the day, we all fell in love with having fun, being on the ice. You find that joy and that balance between embracing things, having fun. We’re in a dogfight here. That’s no secret. We have to make up ground.”

One way for the team to have fun is enjoying in the good play of their teammates. Such when a player like Kevin Bahl, not known for his scoring, tallies a goal, or when a Lazar blocks a shot on the penalty kill.

“We’ve been talking about having more energy and enthusiasm on the bench. Push each other,” Bratt said. “Cheer on the good things that happen in the game. That creates a lot of energy. We can’t sit there and hang our heads. We have to go out there and do something about it on the next shift. We have to push ourselves and push each other. Share the moments when guys block shots or anything that we can take energy from and bring to each other.”

That was evident in the team’s 7-2 win at San Jose. Of course, it’s easy to have fun when you’re playing as dominant as the Devils were.

“We talked about our maturity. Stay the course,” Lazar said. “The first period was sloppy but we stuck with it. We corrected a few things. It was nice to have a win that was a ‘no doubter.’ It’s been a couple months we could exhale and have some fun.”

He Said It:

Ruff on playing the Ducks: "We have to be diligent around our net, getting under sticks, making sure we’re boxing out bodies. We’ll have to match their physicality around the crease."