"If everything goes well, I should be able to play tomorrow, so we'll take that tomorrow and see how it goes," Hall told the Devils website after practice. "It felt good. Definitely felt ready to go today. It might take a couple of periods to get back into things."
Hall has a seven-game point streak (five goals, seven assists), tying the longest of his NHL career (Jan. 6-Feb. 4, 2016, Edmonton Oilers). He leads the Devils with 17 goals, 48 points and 156 shots on goal in 43 games.
"It was something that was bugging me a couple games before (his last game, against the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 20) so I decided to take a few games off to get it right," Hall said.
Backup goalie Keith Kinkaid, who missed the past three games with a groin injury, will start Tuesday. Cory Schneider (groin injury) did not practice.
Center Brian Boyle, who replaced Hall in the All-Star Game at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Sunday, will join the team in Buffalo. He did not practice on Monday.
Forward Marcus Johansson is out indefinitely after sustaining his second concussion of the season after he missed 13 games in November. Johansson was injured in the third period of a 3-2 loss at the Boston Bruins when Brad Marchand elbowed him in the head on Jan. 23.
"They both should be available tomorrow," Devils coach John Hynes said of Hall and Kinkaid. "And there is no update on the other injured players. Schneider and Johansson aren't traveling to Buffalo."
The Devils have lost four straight games and are 2-7-3 in the past 12 games. New Jersey is fourth in the Metropolitan Division with 56 points. They occupy the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"We talked today about last stretch of games probably been the most adversity we've faced during the year and every team goes through it but it's how you come out of it and it's not just hoping to come out of it but understanding why we didn't have some success and making sure we talk about it as a group and see and then execute better than we did before the break," Hynes said.
