KEEFE'S MEDIA AVAIL RECAP
PITTSBURGH, PA - The Devils held an optional morning skate at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh ahead of facing the Penguins on the second half of back-to-back games.
Goal Search
The Devils’ struggles to score goals has been no secret. And those woes seem to continue coming out of the Olympic break against Buffalo, notching just one tally in a 2-1 setback on Wednesday night.
Keefe’s message to the team is to stay the course.
“With our players you expect them to shoot at a higher rate, but we have to keep with it and keep finding ways to generate the chances and have greater frequency with them,” head coach Shelon Keefe said. “The biggest thing for me is our overall game. We’ve got to be ablet to stay with it and maintain it for three periods.
“You have to embrace the process and trust that it’ll work, trust that the goals will come and then your game starts to come.”
One avenue the Devils are pursuing to generate more offense is getting their defense active on the rush and in the offensive zone.
“We’re trying to create more numerical advantages offensively,” Keefe said. “That’s something that we talk about a lot. … A lot of that has to come through the defense giving you extra numbers coming up through the ice, having them to be a little quicker to jump onto offense. We don’t have a lot of guys where that’s their first instinct, but we’ve got to continue to push on that because I think that can unlock some things for us.”
Special Special Teams
The Devils PK unit went a perfect 3-for-3 against the Sabres, including two big kills in the waning minutes of the second period. The killers have been a bright spot for the team and picked up right where it left off with its success heading into the Olympic break.
“The guys have found some real consistency,” Keefe said. “We were going really well. I think the way the guys are pressuring the pucks, their reads, sticks and checking, we’re getting some clears. We’re generating offense and getting opportunities the other way, too. There’s lots to like about the penalty kill for a good chunk of time now.”
Advantage
The Devils will face Pittsburgh on the second half of back-to-backs. But the game tonight will be the Penguins’ first since the Olympic break. So, the Devils will likely have an advantage having already played a game despite playing twice in 48 hours.
“I hope we got the dust off. We got to address some things this morning,” Keefe said. “I think there’s a potential advantage there that can maybe overcome the extra energy and juice the team you’re playing will have and playing on home ice. That remains to be seen when the puck drops.”
