MORNING SKATE RECAP
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Devils held an optional skate on Saturday ahead of an early start against the L.A. Kings (6:00 PM local time, 9:00 PM eastern). With the earlier skate and a later practice on Friday, not too many players hit the ice but a handful did: Jesper Bratt, Ondrej Palat, Arseny Gritsyuk, Paul Cotter, Luke Glendening, Juho Lammikko, Brian Halonen, Seamus Casey and Dennis Cholowski plus Jake Allen in goal.
During the skate, Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe was asked about the status of Connor Brown who wasn’t on the ice this morning and didn’t skate at Friday’s practice, either.
“Brown, he’s not available today. He could be day-to-day, we’re hopeful he can bounce back from it pretty quickly, but not available tonight,” said Keefe.
With Brown officially out, Keefe was asked if the lines at practice on Friday were now indicative of what tonight’s lineup could look like.
“I think that’s fair (to say), yeah,” Keefe said.
The lines on Friday were:
Noesen – Hughes – Bratt
Palat – Hischier – Gritsyuk
Meier – Lammikko – Mercer
Cotter – Glendening – Halonen
Sigenthaler – Hamilton
Dillon – Hughes
Cholowski – Nemec
MARKSTROM EXTENDED
Coach Keefe didn’t indicate who was going to be his starting goaltender tonight, but with Markstrom not skating at Allen hitting the ice this morning, conventional wisdom has him between hte pipes a day after signing a two-year contract extension.
“To know where you’re gonna be and to keep playing and representing the New Jersey Devils. I want to say thank you to the Blitzer family and their ownership group, Fitzy as well, and obviously my teammates too,” said Markstrom. “They’re a big part of why this is a special place to play in, and the fans of the hockey club. We’re excited, my family’s excited, and for me personally it’s nice to turn the page on this one and just focus on playing hockey.”
