BLOG: We're Talking About Practice

NEWARK, NJ -The Devils are one game into a six-game, 10-day road trip. They also are halfway through a stretch that will see them play six games in nine days.
The constant barrage of games has produced limited opportunities for practice. Rest is paramount to the club's health and fitness, but practice is essential for fixing and fine-tuning its game. Balancing the two is a complicated dance.
So, even though the Devils just played on back-to-back days and Mondays have regularly served as a rest day for the team, head coach Lindy Ruff opted to have his full slate of players practice today.

"Really, man-to-man, we didn't want to practice," Ruff said. "We felt maybe 30 minutes could help us."
The team worked on some of the finer points in the game, including breakouts and defensive zone exits.
"Our passing leaving the zone. Some of the simpler options," Ruff said. "Sometimes you have to learn to just live to fight again, and that play is just up the wall. I still think we can get better at that. I still think we're trying some plays that are out of reach for us. We're not there yet. When we get the support and you go up the wall, maybe it isn't the prettiest play, but it might be the only play to make sure you don't give yourself up, you get out of the zone and you get fresh bodies on the ice again."
Special teams was another area of focus at practice. Though the power play didn't score in Sunday's win against Pittsburgh, it was a vast improvement over a listless effort in Saturday's loss.
And over the past 11 games, the Devils have the NHL's No. 1-ranked penalty killing unit with a 90.6-percent conversion rate, which includes a stretch of 16 straight kills. The unit has gone 33-for-38 (86.8 percent) in the past 14 games.
"We know that if we're going to win games, we have to win more than our share night after night of special teams," Ruff said. "That's what hurt us early on in the year and an area that we want to continue to work on."
Working on those facets of the game were so important to the team that it opted to hit the ice instead of taking a day off. Balancing the need for rest and work will be something that Ruff and his coaching staff will navigate for the final seven weeks of the season.