PK All Day
The Devils had an impressive start to the 2025-26 campaign, winning eight-straight games en route to an 8-1-0 record to begin the season. One of the biggest factors in that success was the club’s penalty kill.
The PK killed 26 of 27 disadvantages during the eight wins and helped carry the team for much of the way. During the 2024-25 season, the Devils PK ranked second in the league with a kill rate of 82.7 percent.
“There are great pieces here to be a very good penalty kill. We went on a stretch last year where we went close to 20 in a row without giving one up,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “The season before that we were at the top of the league. A lot of those players are still here. It’s just a matter of that cohesion, find some confidence and some rhythm, stay healthy and do the work necessary.”
The PK dipped last season after the early run with some injuries and players going in and out of the lineup was a major factor.
“Injuries are going to happen,” defenseman Brenden Dillon said. “There is an upper echelon of power plays in the league that you have to be aware of with those super dynamic offensive players. If I had to put my finger on one thing it’s just the chemistry of it. It’s very similar a good D pair or good forward line operating together when four guys are in the right spots and able to read off one another. It’s easy to see and usually that’s a big reason why you can get those kills.”
The Devils goal is to return to their own upper echelon of play on the PK.
“You always want to be top-5, top-3 in special teams. That’s our goal,” blueliner Jonas Siegenthaler said. “I think last year, we weren’t bad, but we weren’t on the same page, everyone. I think that’s just a huge detail that matters. If everybody is on the same page, if we work as a unit, we’re going to be successful. We just have to communicate, even in meetings. If you have a question, ask a question. Get everyone on the same page so that we can execute as a four-man unit out there.”
The work begins now. Though with the shortened camp and preseason, there is less work to build that cohesion early. That said, taking five penalties in the opening preseason game was a way – though not ideal – to add those extra reps.
“Shorter training camp and less preseason games is tough,” Dillon said. “My first preseason games was nice. We had like five or six PKs, which is good for repetition.
“Just getting that chemistry as a unit of four, that’s when we’re at our best."
