Hughes Brothers Practice Before Wednesday's Clash | NOTEBOOK

The Devils practiced in Vancouver on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the first game on a three-game road trip through Western Canada.

Stay tuned to the notebook for the latest info, updates, interviews, videos and more from the practice session!

Lines from Practice

With Curtis Lazar out after an injury on Sunday at home against Anaheim, the Devils did some shuffling of their lineup. The forward lines and defense pairings looked like this on Tuesday in Vancouver:

Meier - Hischier - Mercer
Palat - Hughes - Bratt
Cotter - Haula - Noesen
Tatar - Dowling - Bastian

Dillon - Hamilton
Siegenthaler - Kovacevic
Hughes - Pesce
Nemec - MacDermid

Head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed that Nathan Bastian will return to the lineup against the Canucks.

“He’s given us a lot of good minutes, I’m not down on him," Keefe said, of having Bastian as a healthy scratch the previous two games. "It was just an opportunity to reflect on his overall game. But he’s given us really good minutes, he’s been an important player for us and will continue to be.”

Brothers Go Head-to-Head, Again

Any time the Canucks and Devils meet, there's always the cacophony of noise surrounding the Hughes brothers playing against one another. This will be just the second time all three play in the same game, with Jack having missed the last game at Prudential Center, out with an injury, leaving just Quinn and Luke in the game.

Yet no matter how many times it happens, it just won't ever get old.

"Probably not." eldest brother Quinn said of these games never losing their appeal. "I'm just excited to meet them and hang out with them tonight, and tomorrow will be a business day."

Away from the rink and gamedays, they're just three regular brothers. Checking in with Quinn Hughes, captain of the Vancouver Canucks, he shared his thoughts on his brothers different personalities.

"I think all of us have traits that are the same and obviously differences that make us different or unique. They have a great friendship, they live together and they do a great job together. Luke's probably a little bit more relaxed at times and Jack's like, I don't know, they're both pretty funny guys."

Heading into Wednesday night’s game, it’s (obviously) the forward, Jack who has the edge in points over his brothers. In seven games he has 13 points (7g-6a), Luke, in two games played has a goal and an assist, and Quinn, the oldest of the three, has appeared in all eight games with some combination of the brothers, and has eight assists.

Dowling Arrives

With Curtis Lazar's injury and the expectation that he will be out for a while, the Devils needed to call in reinforcements at forward. Justin Dowling received the call and was on the ice at practice in Vancouver.

“You never want to see someone go down, I wish a speedy recovery for him,” Dowling said. “I think he’s a big part of this team, the energy he brings, so hopefully, I can be half as much as an energizer bunny as he is and go from there.”

"Veteran guy, both NHL and AHL, he’s been in this position a lot in his career and he’s done it with the Devils as well," head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "I know our coaching staff, guys that have worked with him have confidence in him, so he’s a guy that’s going to work hard, good skill, good head about him and my memory of him is going head-to-head against him in the Calder Cup with the Toronto Marlies when he was in Texas some years ago, which he was an outstanding player."

What Keefe remembers is what exactly the type of thing he will need from Dowling as he takes this opportunity with the Devils.

"He’s just played hard, made a ton of plays," Keefe said. "I didn’t know a lot about him, we never played against Texas, or that conference in the American League, so seeing him in the final I quickly got up to speed on him, he was a big factor in that series.”