TORONTO, ON - The Devils did not hold a morning skate in Toronto due to the back-to-back contests, having defeated the New York Rangers 7-4 Tuesday night.
So, it's hard to see where some of their injured players are in returns of availability, including Miles Wood (hip) and Janne Kuokkanen (wrist). And head coach Lindy Ruff wasn't tipping his hand.
"We're dealing with a few guys that have been injured. We're dealing with an illness that's going through the team," he said. "Whether they play, I'm not going to discuss the lineup."
One player he did discuss was the recently acquired Andrew Hammond. The 34-year-old deadline acquisition has been dealing with an injury.
"He's nursing an injury. He's a little ways away," Ruff said of the goaltender. "At least he was on the ice. We don't know an exact timeline, but as he works through it, we'll know."
Looking Back
The Devils suffered a 6-4 loss the last time they were in Toronto, which was followed up with a 7-1 loss to the Maple Leafs in Newark on the following night. However, instead of looking back to those games, Ruff would prefer his club look at how they performed in the final two periods against New York last night.
"I would rather use the way we finished last night's game as an example of how we need to play," Ruff said. "The speed we need to play with and how we have to move the puck to play against good teams."
Guess Who's Back
The Devils recalled forward A.J. Greer and defenseman Kevin Bahl from Utica of the American Hockey League. Both are expected to play for the team at some point (if not tonight).
"Greer we had him up. He suffered an injury and went back down," Ruff said. "He's played well, scored goals. He's a hard body to play against.
"Like any young defenseman, (Bahl's) had his ups and downs. He's put a pretty good stretch of hockey together. He's being rewarded for it. He got called up and he'll see some games."
