NEWARK — Devils coach John Hynes remains unabashedly optimistic about the Devils’ chances to stay in playoff contention.
It would have been easy for the Devils to see 2016-17 as a lost season when they lost seven games in a row during a four-win December, but that confidence never wavered. After winning three of four and collecting seven points after the All-Star break and before their bye week, the Devils did what Hynes wanted.
“When we came back from the All-Star break, coach (John) Hynes had a very direct meeting with us, that we have a chance,” defenseman Ben Lovejoy told NJ Advance Media. “It’s not a position we wanted to be in, but we’re not out of it yet. We need to have a big month of February.”
What Schneider says he needs to improve
Hynes’ focus remained on what the Devils did well when they did win games, and how those traits needed to be present in every game for them to have any chance.
“After the All-Star break we came back, and we talked about some of the things we thought we had learned throughout the year about our team,” Hynes said. “Just certain things we have to do to be able to win.”
Hynes cited the team’s ability to win battles and outwork other teams as necessities for success — something he’s said since September — and he saw more of that out of the All-Star break.
Fortunately for the Devils, their position in the standings hasn’t drastically changed so far during their bye week. Three days into the break, the Devils are four points behind the final wild card spot after starting the bye three points out.
10 players who could move at deadline
The resume play on Sunday with another home game, and they have just one away from the Prudential Center in all of February. They know the opportunity doesn’t get much better.
“The schedule has not been beneficial for us, and that really changes the month of February,” Lovejoy said. “We have great rest, we have lots of home games, we have days in between games rather than a lot of back-to-backs. We need to find ways to take advantage of that.”
Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ. Find NJ.com Devils on Facebook.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
