Devils Back to Work with Practice in Buffalo  | NOTEBOOK

The Devils practiced in Buffalo ahead of their game against the Sabres on Friday night.

Below is the latest info, updates, interviews, videos and more from the practice session!

Practice Details

Jack and Luke Hughes took maintenance days and did not participate in practice. Both are available to play against the Sabres. Kurtis MacDermid did not participate either, as the forward has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury. Otherwise, the Devils had full attendance for the on-ice session.

Below was the team's workflow on Thursday:

Meier - Hischier - Bratt
Halonen - Haula - Holtz
Palat - Nosek - Mercer
Willman - Tierney - Lazar

Bahl - Marino
Hatakka - DeSimone
Smith - Nemec

This week, the focus has been on balancing mental and physical rest as it's been a demanding stretch for the Devils as they head into the final weeks of the regular season. Interim head coach Travis Green discussed how they approached this week with balancing it all from practices to video work.

“Physical and mental (break this week),” Green shared. “We really tried to cut back the last two days on video. We gave them the day off yesterday and a good skate today, but laid off the video both days. We pushed pretty hard for two and half weeks with a lot of video so I think that’s always important, any time when you’re talking about rest, not just the physical part but the mental part as well.”

Taking Advantage of the Opportunity

When Nick DeSimone was claimed off waivers by the New Jersey Devils, he entered a period of time where he was playing consistent minutes with his former team, the Calgary Flames, to not playing at all. After just shy of two months off, DeSimone made his Devils debut on Mar. 14. In the game, he had an assist and played just shy of 25 minutes. Since then, DeSimone has played seven more games for the Devils and is averaging 16:28 of ice time. He discussed the process of staying ready to get his chance following Thursday’s practice.

“It was tough not playing but you have to be a pro and prepare each day like you’re going to play,” DeSimone shared after Thursday’s practice. “Do what you need to do to be able to be ready. You never know when you’re going to be called on and if you do get called on you have to be ready. I just tried to do everything in my power that I could to be ready and stay ready and whenever I got a chance just try to take advantage of it.”

DeSimone did take advantage of it. Recently paired up with Luke Hughes, DeSimone is a defenseman the Devils have turned to with big assignments and playing big minutes.

“He’s playing well,” Green shared on DeSimone. “He’s playing some big minutes right now obviously against top lines. He was out for awhile, didn’t get in the game. When you go from not playing at all for a month and a half to getting thrown right into the fire and playing important minutes, it’s a great opportunity for him and he’s played well doing it.”

Playing for the Devils tomorrow night would be extra special for the defenseman who grew up in East Amherst, 20 miles away from Key Bank Center.

“My early memories are Sabres, and they were good,” DeSimone discussed about watching Buffalo growing up. “Early, mid 2000s, had some great teams, those were my idols growing up … it got me into hockey, as well as my family.

"I haven’t been able to have the chance to play here so if I do play here it’ll be really cool," DeSimone continued. "Obviously it’s cool for me but for my family, all that my parents have done, my brother, my sister, sacrifices they made and things they’ve done to help me. A lot of friends too and mentors and people that have helped me. It’s a lot of names, it’ll be cool for them to experience that."

Vilen Adjusting to the North American Game

In this week's Prospect Watch powered by NJMEP, Sam Kasan shares more about Topias Vilen's adjustment to the North American game while playing for the Utica Comets. An excerpt of the feature is below:

So, it’s safe to say, Vilen had a lot to learn as he joined the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League to start his first pro season in North America last September.

“At the start there were some small difficulties adjusting my game,” he admitted. “It’s getting better game by game. Now I’m adjusted to the North American style.”

“Everybody has their period of adaption to get to a new level,” Comets head coach Kevin Dineen said. “To move to North America, to adapt to a new life, a new life style, there’s an adjustment period. Certainly, he went through that process.”

*Click here to read more*

The Road Trip

Friday will be the final game of this three-game road trip and it's been off to a great start. The Devils shutout the New York Islanders 4-0 on Sunday before beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 on Tuesday night. With four of six possible points already secured heading into the final stop, New Jersey has made up some ground in the playoff race.

“We played a pretty good game in Toronto," Green shared after practice. "We weren’t great in the first, but we were pretty good in the last two periods. Got a win on the road in a tough building against a good team. We’ve had a couple down days now, I thought we skated well today in practice, and we’re going to have to be good again tomorrow. It’s that time of year where you’re going to see team’s best. It’s no secret Buffalo lost their last game, so they’re going to come out ready to play, we’re going to have to match that.”

Currently the Devils are five points out of the second wild card spot (Washington, 81 points) and six points out of third place in the Metropolitan Division (Philadelphia, 82 points). New Jersey is also behind the Detroit Red Wings in the standings (79 points). The Capitals, Flyers, and Red Wings all play Thursday night.

Greetings from Jersey

In the newest episode of Greetings from Jersey, learn more about Ondrej Palat and Jesper Bratt's time living in the Garden State!