NEWARK – Tyler Toffoli only spent 61 of his 799 games with the New Jersey Devils – with all those coming this season prior to his trade to Winnipeg on March 8 – but that doesn’t mean a return to Prudential Center won’t be special.
Any match-up against a former team has a little extra to it, but the fact it’s also the 31-year-old’s 800th career game makes it even better.
“It’s always fun to hit those personal milestones,” he said. “For myself, people have always doubted me saying I’m too slow and all that. I think I’ve done a pretty good job. So, knock on wood, 800 tomorrow, and I don’t plan on stopping.”
Toffoli has fit right into a Winnipeg’s roster that rolls into New Jersey with three straight wins. The veteran has six points in his last three games and heads into Thursday’s milestone evening with 257 goals and 516 points. Also on his resume, a Stanley Cup from his rookie season in 2013-14.
“You play that many games, win the Stanley Cup, you’re going through experiences that other guys haven’t,” said interim head coach Scott Arniel. “Just being in that room calming guys down in certain situations. Or it might be what he’s brought to the power play - kind of like what (Gabriel Vilardi) does being that right-handed shot close to the net. He’s got that skill set that is hard to teach, you get that by playing 800 games. The other side too is he’s a pure goal scorer. When he gets those looks he doesn’t miss too often.”
A season-long five-game road trip has also been a great time for Toffoli to get to know his new teammates. The first three he played with the Jets came at home, and Toffoli was just trying to get his bearings in a new city during that span.
“It’s great. With that win last night, we had a bunch of guys go for dinner and have a good night,” Toffoli said. “It’s a way to bond outside of the game, and that goes a long way. We had a good practice today to reset, and we’ll be ready for tomorrow.”
In preparation for Thursday’s tilt with New Jersey, the Jets (44-19-5) held a 40-minute skate at Prudential Center. The tone of that skate? All business. Even after a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday, a team holding down the top spot in the Metropolitan Division.
“It’s too busy of a schedule to get caught up in that. It’s the next opponent,” said Arniel. “New Jersey isn’t out of it. They made the coaching change, they have guys playing hard for positions, and beat that Pittsburgh team last night pretty soundly. You can’t underestimate any of your opponents.”
Neal Pionk was the only member of the Jets not on the ice, which Arniel said was for maintenance reasons after the defenceman played 21:54 against the Rangers – the third-most of any skater on the team.
With Pionk not on the ice, Colin Miller slotted in on the right side with Brenden Dillon.
Like Toffoli, Miller also started this season with the Devils. The 31-year-old right-shot defenceman played 41 games with New Jersey prior to his trade to Winnipeg, which came only a couple hours after Toffoli’s.
Arniel said there are still some decisions to be made line-up wise, but did say there was a “good chance” that Miller also plays against his former team, as the Jets try to work all eight defencemen into games down the stretch drive.
The full line rushes looked like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Iafallo
Ehlers-Monahan-Toffoli
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Gustafsson-Namestnikov
Perfetti, Kupari
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Miller
Samberg-Schmidt
Stanley
While the Devils may not sit as high in the standings as the Rangers – Tuesday’s 5-2 win over Pittsburgh moved them to 33-32-4, sixth in the Metropolitan Division and six points out of a wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference – a lot of the principles remain the same in terms of what the Jets want to accomplish.
Arniel was complimentary of Winnipeg’s ability to get the puck behind the Rangers defence on Tuesday and grind away on the forecheck. Doing so helped limit New York’s ability to use their lethal transition game.
The same concept will be important on Thursday.
“They have a real speedy bunch of forwards. They have some top end skill,” said Arniel.
“It’s all through their line-up and they’re coming all the time. They’re pushing you back. We saw that in our building, how quick they were. They have some people that can make top-end plays at top speed.
“We’ve talked about it all year long, against these teams that are highly skilled you have to make them go back and get pucks. Don’t make the game easy on them.”
In terms of a starting goaltender, Arniel still wanted to speak with goaltending coach Wade Flaherty to confirm the plan for the tilt with the Devils.
Connor Hellebuyck was sensational against the Rangers, stopping 39 of 41 shots and earning his second consecutive victory on the road trip.
That being said, Thursday’s game starts a stretch of three games in four days for the Jets, with the back-to-back on the weekend (against the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals) being afternoon starts.
Puck drop is set for 7pm CT on Thursday.
