500 Man
Devils goalie Jake Allen will hit a monumental milestone today when he suits up for his 500th career NHL game. An achievement that speaks to his longevity and quality of play.
“His path, his road, not the easiest most traditional way. He’s done a little bit of everything in terms of being a No.1 guy, being a backup, being a mentor,” Keefe said. “Here he’s been all of that at different times. He’s the ultimate pro, a tremendous leader and competitor. He takes every single day as serious in detail and structure as his first day, which is pretty remarkable.”
Clean Up
Though the Devils currently have a 1-2-0 record, the analytics state that the team should be 3-0-0 with the way they’ve played. The team hasn’t been able to convert enough on the scoring chances generated, and when they have the rare breakdown defensively, it seems to end up in the back of the net.
Keefe wants his team to be rewarded with their play this time out.
“I want to see consistency in our play, because even in these last couple games that haven't gone well, I could show you dozens of clips where it looks exactly the way it's supposed to and the guys are doing a really good job,” Keefe said. “And in those situations, all the things that the structure is designed to do in terms of suppressing chances against and protecting our net are very much in play.
“So, we need more of that. We need the consistency of it. The Utah game, as I think I've already said, we went through it, there were six instances in the hockey game that really cost us, resulted in goals against, resulted in high-end, high-danger chances against. That's six instances in a game. So, you can clean those types of things up, maybe reduce it to two. If you can manage those, you can rely on your goaltender to kind of get you through some of that. But it's the consistency of our overall play, and that's habits, that's details inside the structure. If you don't have that, it doesn't matter what system you're playing.”
View from the Other Side
Keefe gave his scouting report of the Canucks:
“I expect they're going to have lots of energy. They're going to work. They're going to compete. They've got guys with skill and can score if you allow them that opportunity. Their penalty kills has had some tough games. We expect them to button that up. So, we've just got to be really good in our area. But we're coming off some light schedule, practice time. We've got to get back up to game speed here and get right to our game. But as much as we're conscious of what Vancouver's going to bring, it's all about us, 100 percent.”
