Devils Prioritizing Team Toughness, ‘We Might Not Start It, But We’ll Finish It’ (+)

LONG ISLAND — There’s absolutely no doubt about it. The New Jersey Devils are a tougher team than they have been in a long time. Whereas they were primarily a skill and speed team last season who could be easily knocked off pucks and taken advantage of between the whistles, those days are behind them as of this season.

The Devils play the New York Islanders on Saturday night. It’s their second meeting of the season, and in the first at the Prudential Center–a 4-3 overtime win for the Isles–things got physical.

Ever since then, it’s felt like there’s been a lot of tough, physical play from the Devils and defenseman Brendan Dillon pinpointed exactly what changed the teams’ mentality.