Up front, the Devils are hurting, with three of their most valued offensive contributors unable to make the upcoming road trip.
Taylor Hall, Marcus Johansson and Kyle Palmieri will all be out against the Canadiens.
Hall is out with a right knee contusion after a collision with L.A.'s Kurtis MacDermid on Tuesday night. The good news for Hall and the Devils is that there is no damage to his knee. At the moment, Hall is listed as day-to-day with his availability beyond Montreal still in question.
"It's tough on a team, but we have great depth and we have guys who step up with their added responsibilities, they respond greatly and play big games," Palmieri said.
"Taylor is a big part of our team and has been playing fantastic," said coach John Hynes. "But over the course of 82 games, you're going to have this, where guys are out and I think coming into the year you want a guy like Taylor to play 82 games, but sometimes that doesn't happen. It's about making sure the guys that are in the lineup are ready to go, understand how we need to play, that there's a way to win every game, there's a way to play with every type of lineup you have."
Johansson won't travel after an ankle bruise sustained Saturday against the Rangers. He has been placed on Injured Reserve, and in his absence the team has recalled Nick Lappin from Binghamton. Lappin will meet the club in Montreal.
Despite practicing Wednesday, Palmieri is still out with a broken foot, though he is closer to a return.
"It's good to get back out in practice, be out there with the guys today," said Palmieri. "Try and get back into shape, and get back up to game speed."
Palmieri is making the trip to Montreal but won't play against the Canadiens. He's on the trip in an effort to get in some practice time with the rest of his teammates.
"It will be better for me as part of getting back into shape and skating with other guys. I wanted to try and get out and get up to speed, making passes and shooting on goalies."
With with the absences of Johansson and Hall, the lines shaped up as the following at practice:
Bratt-Hischier-Stafford
Coleman-Zajac-Gibbons
Hayes-Boyle-Palmieri
Wood-Zacha-Noesen
Moore-Vatanen
Greene-Santini
Butcher-Severson
Prout-Lovejoy
Schneider/Kinkaid
