WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Devils held a morning skate at Capital One Arena in Washington. Forward Miles Wood, who missed the third period of Tuesday's game after taking an elbow to the head, joined the team and was a full participant. Meanwhile, forward Curtis Lazar, who was acquired at the NHL's trade deadline, still hasn't joined the team as they work through immigration.
The Devils did make some adjustments to the lineup in their workflow…
Tatar - Hischer - Mercer
Meier - Hughes - Boqvist
Palat - Haula - Bratt
Wood - McLeod - Bastian
Siegenthaler - Hamilton
Graves - Marino
Smith - Severson
Goaltender Akira Schmid looks like he'll get the start in goal.
"With new pieces coming in we have an opportunity to try players in different spots," head coach Lindy Ruff said of the line shuffling. "With the schedule that we've got we're trying to balance the lines, take a little ice time off the top and see if we can find continuity. It may take a couple games. By switching things around you may find chemistry amongst guys that haven't played together.
"The though is you can always go back (to old lines)."
Bo Knows
Boqvist has two goals and four points in his past three games. And tonight he will get a chance to player with the Devils' top two goal scorers.
"It's going to be a lot of fun," Boqvist said of playing with Hughes and Meier. "For me, I'm just going to try to do what I would do. Create chances for myself and them.
"If a play is there I have to make it. If it's not I'm not going to force it, but if they're open I'll give it to them."
Ruff has seen Boqvist, who has been a healthy scratch and different points this season, elevate his play of late.
"I've seen real strong play, skating really well," Ruff said. "His speed is one thing that's really been evident."
Got Me in Stitches
Palat took a nasty stick to the face against Toronto that required some mouth repair, but the only time he missed was while the doctors worked on his mouth. Palat still has the stitches on his upper lip.
"I'm good," he said. "Three teeth got chipped out and a couple stitches but nothing crazy."
Wood is Good
Wood was held out of the third period after taking an elbow to the head from Toronto's Timothy Liljegren. But he was back on the ice for morning skate.
"I feel fine. I passed all the tests so I feel great," Wood said of the concussion protocol.
Wood was attempting to finish a check from behind on Liljegren when the Leaf turned to the shoot the puck up the boards. During the follow through Liljegren's elbow caught Wood in the face.
"It was just a freak thing. He didn't mean to do it on purpose," Wood said. "He was just shooting the puck and his arm came up and hit me in the head."
