New Jersey Devils winger Taylor Hall expects to be in the lineup against the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday, despite missing the all-star game with an injured thumb.
“If everything goes well, I should be able to play tomorrow, so we’ll take that tomorrow and see how it goes,” Hall said after practice Monday. “It felt good. Definitely felt ready to go today. It might take a couple of periods to get back into things.”
Hall missed the Devils’ last three games before the all-star break, plus the actual all-star game, because of an injury to his right thumb. But when he spoke Monday, he downplayed the severity of the injury, saying he missed the games for precautionary reasons.
“It was something that was bugging me a couple games before (his last game, against the Philadelphia Flyers, on Jan. 20) so I decided to take a few games off to get it right,” Hall said.
The Devils could use Hall in the lineup. After missing the playoffs last year and taking Nico Hischier with the first pick in the draft, New Jersey now finds itself in a playoff race. With a 24-16-8 record and 56 points, the Devils currently occupy the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. But the Flyers, currently in the second wild-card spot, also have 56 points while the New York Rangers and New York Islanders are right behind them with 55 points each.
Hall enters Tuesday’s game on a seven-game point streak and leads the Devils with 17 goals and 48 points. The Devils’ offence revolves around him and in a tight playoff race, he’ll be counted on to score some big goals down the stretch.
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