Cholo Time
With Luke Hughes out for the season, defenseman Dennis Cholowski will likely get some game action in the final run of the season. He’ll at least entered the lineup tonight against Pittsburgh.
“It’s always great to play,” Cholowski said. “I try to take pride in my game and help the team win. That’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Cholowski has appeared in 15 games this season with New Jersey and has spent most of his time as the club’s extra Dman. It’s a role that he’s become accustomed to.
“It’s a bit of a whirlwind but part of the job that you signed up for,” he said. “I’ve done it for a few years now. My wife and I have moved everywhere and back, in and out. That’s the job. You just have to do your best.”
Cholowski – and the Devils – will be facing a Pittsburgh team that can clinch a playoff spot with a win this evening, which will only add to the difficulty.
“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “They’re big, they’re fast. They’ve been playing well. Scoring a lot of goals. We’ll just have to match the intensity as best we can and try to put the pressure back on them and try to come away with a win.”
Nemo Time
The Devils made a change to their top power-play unit, promoting defenseman Simon Nemec to handle the duties. The move was to give the youngster a chance to show what he can do in the remaining four games of the season.
“We had a good run with Dougie (Hamilton) in that group for a while and liked the results, thought it was going well,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We wanted to give Luke some exposure there. Now, with the situation we’re in and with the games remaining, we have a young defenseman in Nemo, who has also done a good job at different times when he’s been there for us. We’ll give him some runway here to finish the season.”
