Markstrom May Return on Upcoming Road Trip | NOTEBOOK

The Devils held a short practice on Saturday afternoon at the RWJBarnabas Health Hockey House inside Prudential Center. The club will host the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET.

Check out the notebook for the latest info, updates, interviews, videos and more from the practice session!

The Ins and Outs

Nico Hischier was the lone player missing from today's very brief practice session, taking a maintenance day confirmed head coach Sheldon Keefe. In his place, to create a balance during drills, was forward Juho Lammikko. Lammikko served as the placeholder between Timo Meier and Arseny Gritsyuk but Keefe did advise that Lammikko is not yet ready to return from his undisclosed injury that he suffered during the preseason.

Sharing the load between the pipes for practice were three goaltenders: Jacob Markstrom, Jake Allen and Nico Daws. Markstrom continues to work his way back from injury and had a net to himself for the 20 minute practice session. The Devils play on Sunday afternoon against Colorado before departing for a nine-day road trip that will take them to Colorado, San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim.

“He’ll be on the trip,” head coach Sheldon Keefe shared. “We see him playing on the trip. When exactly that is we’ll have to see how he feels today and what that looks like. Once we get out to Colorado tomorrow night, we’ll have an opportunity for him to skate out in Colorado on Monday too and see where it goes from there.”

Markstrom took part in Friday's morning skate as well as Saturday's practice session. He has been out since getting injured in the third period against the Blue Jackets in Columbus on October 15th.

Dougie Doing It

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton is coming off a two-goal performance against the Sharks on Friday night and while he's known for his offense, especially on the power play with his booming shot, it's the other areas of the 32-year-olds game that have been most impressive in the early going. He's been a regular on a spectacular penalty kill that, before the game against San Jose, had killed off 21-straight penalties. And it's those reps that help set the tone for the rest of your game, explains Keefe.

"His consistency in his play, shift to shift has been better," Keefe said. "I think Brad Shaw spent a lot of time with him, has been very clear with him in terms of expectations and then he’s followed that up by giving him great opportunity. He’s been a very consistent and regular contributor on our penalty kill, that forces him to be in a defensive mindset, to check, to play hard, to be competitive, to be in a situation where you’re shorthanded, the added level of urgency and desperation that comes iwth that. I think that just bleeds into the rest of your game. We’ve been really happy with Dougie.”

Meet the Opponent

The Devils will open up a home-and-home with the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon. New Jersey will host the Avs before both teams travel to Colorado where the Avs host the Devils on Tuesday. It will be a matchup of two teams with enviable depth, an active defense and superstar skill.

A challenge, says Keefe.

“They’ve got great talent and skill-level there,” Keefe said of the Colorado blueline. “A lot of that, comes from the speed and skill of their forwards that they back you off, they create separation and they find the defense late and the defense is active in the offensive zone. They’ve just got multiple threats. No real surprises but with (Gabriel) Landeskog and (Brock) Nelson there now, it’s a different looking group in terms of their depth and their depth players are as good as ever. Lots of speed, lots of skill. I think it’s a challenge unlike we have seen here quite yet in terms of the depth and the confidence that their team has. They haven’t lost in regulation all season long and they generate a ton. So it’s going to be a great opportunity for us to meet that challenge.”

There are similarities across the board, which should make it an even more inticing matchup.

"They’re a fast team, they’ve got good players, they can skate, a lot,” Jonas Siegenthaler said. “A lot of skills, but so are we. We’ve got a skilled team, we’re good skaters. At the end it’s about us not giving them too much, not opening up the game, playing consistent and stick to our game plan. Our chances will come. We don’t need to force anything.”