Killing Time
One point of emphasis at Monday’s practice was on the penalty kill. The unit surrendered two power-play goals to the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night (the only two goals Buffalo scored in the game). So, the club put in some work.
“There’s definitely room for improvement there,” center Michael McLeod said. “Practicing against a power play like ours is important. It’s good for us to practice being more aggressive and better reads.”
The word “aggressive” was thrown around a bit from a few of the PKers after practice. But it wasn’t just blind aggression the team wants, but a cooperative pressure.
“Being aggressive when you can. On triggers go as a unit, pressure them,” defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler said. “Close up on them. Don’t give them any room. We can do a little better job on that and all be connected. It can’t be just one guy going. If one guy goes, everybody has to trigger and put pressure on. That’s one thing we have to do a little bit better.”
The Devils have their structure in place. But a lot of the moments in game occur outside of that structure. That’s when individual players have to make decisions. And within those decisions, the other guys on the ice need to fall in line. Thus, communication is critical.
“Penalty killing is a lot of read-and-react,” Ruff said. “You have your system. You have your responsibilities. But the puck goes in different places. When you sense pressure, you have to go. When one goes, we all go. If one of those pieces is missing, we don’t get the puck down the ice.”
“We know where we need to be. It’s getting to those spots faster and being in the right areas more consistently,” McLeod said. “Once we start doing that we’ll get on a roll. Once you get on a roll, good things happen.”
