Devils Hit the Ice for Practice Wednesday | NOTEBOOK

The Devils are on the ice for a practice Wednesday afternoon at Prudential Center. They have a two-day break between Tuesday's 3-0 victory against Chicago and Friday's contest against the NY Islanders.

Skillz:

The Devils have a two-day break between games. And they utilized one of those two practice days, Wednesday, with a skills session.
Led by skills coach Ryan Murphy, the Devils worked more of the finer happenings in a game as opposed to general reads and systems.
"It was great to be out there today," Murphy said. "It's just trying to recreate scenarios we're seeing during the course of the game. Maybe we can execute on a little bit better clip. Change up the routine a little bit with two days of practice before the next game."
Murphy worked closely with the coaching staff prior to the day, deciding which stations they wanted to use and the skills they wanted to emphasize.
"We spoke the last two days about what we wanted to see out of this day to get the most out of it," Murphy said. "The coaches have been great. We walked through what each station's details would be and what we wanted to execute."
For the players, it's also a nice change from the daily grind of systems and special teams practices that dominate the year.
"I know the guys talk about doing a lot of skills during the summertime and during the course of the year not doing as much," Murphy said. "So, I know they like to implement it whether it's before or after practice. We just want to give them a fun atmosphere, details where we're just trying to execute more plays."
"It's a good opportunity for us to take advantage of two games in a week," forward Dawson Mercer said, "so space it out and have a skills practice to work on our shot close to the net, it's all positives that you don't get a chance to do during a normal practice. I think we really took advantage of that."

One person (or object) that was taken advantage of was a player mannequin. The life-size doll was set up as a shot blocker, getting players to shoot around the figure to better refine their accuracy. However, that didn't stop some players from specifically targeting the mannequin, both with shots and some punches.
"It was actually a lot of fun," defenseman Dougie Hamilton said. "It was great in the actual practice to shoot around it. But the extra curriculars after, it's pretty much a dummy for boxing. So, he knows how to take a punch."
"He took a beating," Murphy said. "He lost his helmet a couple of times. It was an ugly scene. But then he led the stretch at the end. That was his gift."

Jack Hughes Appreciation Post:

As I noted in my game story following the Devils 3-0 victory against Chicago, Jack Hughes was skating circles around defenders behind the Blackhawks goal, he was stickhandling through masses of bodies and setting up scoring plays with ease.

I'm running out of adjectives to describe Hughes. And I'm not the only one. Though the rest of the team gave it their best shot.
Jesper Bratt: "I don't think you can use only one word (to describe Hughes). He really excels all the game. He really comes up in big moments when we need him. ... He was feeding me really good passes, and obviously on the goal. He's a great skill guy making head's up plays all the time. The same time on Dougie's goal, he's carrying the puck throughout the whole shift and then he makes that seam pass. He's fun to watch, fun to play with. You just have to be ready with your stick when he's on the ice."

Lindy Ruff: "It's a lot of fun to watch him play. When he gets the puck there are a lot of great things that happen. He's a tough guy to track down. You saw a lot of that in the offensive zone. He had the puck, one guy tried, the next guy tried. He made a great play to Dougie on the first goal. Real good night for Jack and where he's got his game at."
Vitek Vanecek: "When I'm watching him, I don't think he's a person. He's different. It's so nice to watch him. His hands are really soft, and he can see the players. That's really huge."
Dawson Mercer: "He's a pretty special player. I think he shows that every night. It's pretty self explanatory."

Second Period Swagger:

A lot has been said and written about the Devils' starts and first periods. But not enough has been mentioned about the team's second periods success.
The Devils have an NHL-best 40 goals in the middle frame, and a league-best plus-19 goal goal differential. The next closest teams in each category are the Los Angeles Kings (37 goals) and Toronto Maple Leafs (+14).
Although, the Bratt attributes the team's second-period dominance in connection with the first-period woes.
"I think it's our mindset and character in the room. When we come back after a (bad) period like that we have the right guys in the room to make a change," Bratt explains. "We're a team that wants to make a difference. We want to win. When we come in after a period like that, we really bring the group together. We know how we need to play. We just have to figure that out in the first periods."

He Said It:

Hamilton on his current success: "I wasn't really happy with my last couple of games, so I was trying to get myself back to my game yesterday. I felt like I got in some good spots and some good chances. I just have to try to keep doing that kind of thing every game."

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