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Some news and notes from today's morning skate practice:

- Coach Trotz indicated there would be no changes to the lineup for tonight's game, so look for the same 18 skaters as Saturday night.


- Joel Ward skipped on-ice work yesterday, but is expected to play in tonight's game.


- Coach Trotz was cut by a stick late in practice yesterday, but was back on the ice again today. He joked around about the experience, while showcasing his new battlewound.


- Coach Trotz was complementary of the way J-P Dumont has adapted his game: "He's adjusting his game to playing in a different role and he makes sure when he's on the ice that his line is not just putting in time; they're trying to be creative, trying to be productive. Give him a lot of credit. He's playing with a couple of young guys -- sometimes the minds can wander a little bit -- and he's keeping them involved."


- Coach Trotz agreed with the assessment that this is one of the best stretches of David Legwand's career: "There was another stretch when he was around 22 years old when Leggy put together a 40-game stretch or so where he was as good as anyone in the NHL. This last month he's getting back to that type of play."


- When talking about the balanced production Coach Trotz admitted that, "it gives you hope as a coach. When you know you can roll out just about any line and get good production, that's an easy feeling behind the bench. Sometimes when things aren't going well, the players need to figure it out on their own. As coaches we can give them direction, give them advice, prepare them for what the other team is going to do, but sometimes it is just a matter of the guys figuring it out on the ice. Our guys have figured it out here recently; they deserve the credit."


- With regard to the recent results from the penalty kill, Coach Trotz viewed the string as more of a fluke blip than anything systemic, noting that two of the power-play goals against recently have come on three-on-five situations and the majority of the other power-play goals against came in scramble situations off deflected passes/shots or strange bounces of the puck. Coach felt the effort and decision making was still pretty good and was comfortable that if the effort remains, the results will even out.