Trickle Down
With Glass in the lineup, the Devils have more balance down the middle with Nico Hischier, Dawson Mercer, Glass and Luke Glendening. And Glass adds another defensively responsible pivot to help shoulder some load to free up Hischier’s line, which typically handles the bulk of the defensive duties.
“It makes a significant difference,” Keefe said. “He needs to come in and play well, play fast, play hard and get comfortable early.”
Cleaning the Rush
The Devils have been an inconsistent team this season. At times, looking like the best club in the league. At others, struggling to find success.
Keefe keyed in on one area in particular that needs to be cleaned up for the team to be better on the consistency front.
“It’s the rush,” he said. “The free chances, the breakaways. You can’t give that stuff up. We had four breakaways (against Philadelphia). You look at any of the games where we’ve been real bad and it’s gotten away from us, that has been the issue. When we don’t give that up, we’re pretty buttoned up on other areas of our game, and we’ve been as good a defensive team as there is in the league.
“It’s that level of consistency that we need to find. That’s been the messaging. It’ll continue to be the messaging. And we have got to get it right. In search of more offense, you cannot give up the big chance against.”
Home Cooking
After a grueling five-game road trip, the Devils return home to play six of their next seven in Prudential Center.
“We’ve been really comfortable at home this year,” defenseman Brenden Dillon said. “It’s been a focus since training camp to be good in this building in front of our fans.”
The Devils are 7-0-1 at home on the year.
