TROY, NY — Not even 24 hours after defeating the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 4-1, in preseason action, the Albany Devils were back on the ice Friday at Knickerbacker Ice Arena. The team is less than one week away from start of the 2016-17 campaign,
While Thursday’s win was just a preseason game, the Devils can draw a lot of positives despite a slow start.
“I thought one of the things we were looking for was play with pace, which we did at times,” said Head Coach Rick Kowalsky. “If you aren’t playing with the puck than that pace can get disturbed. Our compete level got better as the game went on . I thought early on we lost too many battles. Even though you are going to see different guys, I thought the special teams took advantage of the situation and we made some plays on the power play.”
Jan Mandat, John Quenneville, Ben Sexton and Ty Loney each scored power-play goals. Mackenzie Blackwood impressed with 23 saves on 24 shots.
“I thought Blackwood was our best player,” Kowalsky said. “He had a real strong game. [Blake] Coleman looks good, he’s looked good all camp. We got a little closer look at Ben Sexton — a real smart two-way player, but I saw a little more out of him offensively.
“I liked the Mandat kid. I just saw him at the Prospect Challenge one game, but he showed me a little something. [Brandon] Baddock had a little more jump and showed some snarl in his game.”
The Devils conclude their preseason schedule Sunday with a 1 pm outing against the Hartford Wolf Pack at Champions Skate Center in Cromwell, CT.
