The New Jersey Devils are going well. However, it’s not going well for Brett Pesce at the moment.
Crazy Eights: Jack Hughes Supremacy; Gritsyuk, Nemec Fuel Win over Avalanche
In the first period of New Jersey’s win over the Colorado Avalanche, Pesce blocked a shot toward the end of the opening frame. That was after he took a high stick to the face at the hands of Martin Necas. Yet, that didn’t take him out of the game.
When the Devils emerged for the second period, Pesce was missing. He wouldn’t return for the following 40 minutes, and thus, he’s going to miss some time.
“Yeah, he’s not great,” Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe explained. “He’s gonna be out for sure, he’s not going to travel.”
The Devils head out Sunday night for a four-game road-trip out west. So whereas we don’t know how long Pesce will be on the sideline, we do know he will be out for at least the next week and a half.
Keefe elaborated on the fact that Pesce suffered an upper-body injury when blocking a Brent Burns shot.
“I mean, you say the blocked shot, he seems like he blocks every shot,” Keefe explained. “So I’m not sure which one you’re referring to. I haven’t seen it back yet, but that’s the nature of the injury, yeah.”
Jack Hughes, who scored the game winning goal in overtime on Sunday, explained it’s certainly concerning to lose Pesce’s services.
“Yeah, that hurts. That’s a tough blow that he misses the rest of the game, and we’ll see how he is,” Jack said.
The Devils are pretty nicked up right now. They’re at 47-man games lost after Jacob Markstrom returned by surprise this weekend. Yet, are out of the services of five players at the moment, and three of them are to key players.
New Jersey will certainly need to make a recall with Dennis Cholowski the lone extra player to head on the road with the Devils.
