The New Jersey Devils held a practice session on Friday at the RWJBarnabas Health Hockey House inside the Prudential Center. Forward Stefan Noesen, who has been recovering from a groin injury, participated on the team’s fourth line during practice. Head Coach Sheldon Keefe commented on Noesen’s progress: “He’s feeling better and getting closer the more reps that we get him. There’s two things, there’s the health and feeling and being strong, and then there’s the conditioning side of it – which the more reps we can get him as a forward in practice. He’s not going to play tomorrow but he’s getting to the point where he’s close. We’ll map it out as to when might be the appropriate date, but we’re not there yet.”
Noesen skated with Cotter and Glendening on the fourth line, which could indicate future line-up changes. Halonen took defensive reps with Cholowski as an extra pairing.
Connor Brown, who previously played for the Oilers, discussed the upcoming game against his former team: “I have some fairly deep bonds over there from what we went through so it’ll be a fun game. It’ll be a different game. I’m really close friends with a lot of guys over there. But those are the ones you want to dig in a little bit more for. It’ll be a really fun game and I’m looking forward to it.”
Head Coach Keefe also addressed the team’s defensive efforts: “I think we made great strides in that area last season. I think we have to make greater strides this year. There’s been more buy-in in that area. You see the first goal against and that’s not even close to being good team defense. But you look at the remainder of the game, I thought we did a real nice job of killing plays, protecting our net, not giving them a lot of a high-end.”
The Devils recently secured a 3-1 win over the Panthers, with highlights and post-game reactions available for fans.
