PRE-GAME MEDIA AVAIL RECAP
NEWARK, NJ. - The Devils did not hold a morning skate with the early puck drop timing. Head coach Sheldon Keefe did meet with the media a few hours before the game. Here are the main takeaways…
Lineup Switch
Judging from the practice lines from Friday, it appears that center Juho Lammikko will draw back into the fold with forward Paul Cotter the odd-man out.
Keefe explained his reasoning and what he wants to see from his fourth line of Lammikko, Luke Glendening and Stefan Noesen.
“I think what you're looking for from that line is that they take care of the game, they take care of the momentum of the game or create positive momentum when the team needs it,” Keefe said, “energy, speed on the puck, speed on the forecheck, great defending when it's time to defend. You want that line attacking and being physical and giving life and energy, and then you want them to pass the game off in a good place, meaning that you can keep the momentum for the next line.”
Keefe said far too often the fourth line has left the next group coming over the boards in a tough spot of defending.
“That's what I haven't liked of late, is just the way that they've been able to connect their shift to the next one,” he said, “meaning that the next line that comes over the boards, the puck's heading towards the other team's net, or the puck's in the other team's end, ideally.
“Far too often they have a good shift, but it finishes with the puck heading towards our net, and the next line coming on is digging their way out, and that's not what you want. So, it's less about producing offense for us or anything like that. It's more about producing positive momentum for the team that you can just keep going line after line. So when we have one or two good shifts and then we play that line and it finishes in a hole, it takes its toll on the team.”
Keefe confirmed that goalie Jacob Markstrom will make the start in goal. Markstrom stopped 32 of 33 shots against in a 2-1 win at Utah on Dec. 19.
Smarter Play
The Devils picked up the aforementioned 2-1 win in Utah, but it wasn’t the prettiest. The club was outplayed for long stretches and relied on Markstrom to steal that game. Keefe wants to see a better showing today, especially against a club that is loaded with offensive talent.
“We were outplayed pretty good in that game. We have to have the puck a lot more,” he said. “They're a team that has tremendous skill throughout their group. You saw they just put up seven (goals) on Long Island before coming here, and they have that ability, and they probably could have had seven on another day. Goaltending was great. Guys played hard to recover from time on our end and stuff like that, but we have to spend more time on their half of the ice and make it harder on their skill guys to get through the neutral zone.”
View from the Other Side
Utah head coach Andre Tourigny talked about the difficulty defending Jack Hughes: “You need to skate with him. You need to make sure you're not taking bad angles on him. He's really elusive, he's really shifty, so the work away from the puck before he gets the puck is really important to make sure we have good angles, and we can skate with him, skate in his ice, and cut his time and space as much as possible. If you give him time and space, he's that skilled and that good of a skater, it's tough to close on him.”
