Growing up, Patrick Kane watched now-Devils winger Jaromir Jagr and admired the way he played.

These days, it's Jagr who is watching Kane and admiring the way the Blackhawks winger is going about his business.

"(Kane) and (Pavel) Datsyuk are my favorite players to watch," the 41-year-old Jagr said before the Hawks and Devils faced off Monday night at the United Center. "(Kane) is kind of the prototype player from 1995, and he's playing (now). He slows the game down and that's the way we used to love it.

"These young kids, they don't do it anymore. They just go straight out with the best speed they have and hit the boards and go the other way. But (Kane) is different. That's why he can dominate the league because he plays a different style. He slows everything down but he has the first two steps so nobody can take the puck from him even though he's not a big guy.

"His intelligence is far ahead than a lot of guys (and) he knows how to use the strength he has to his advantage. Not many guys can do that."

With 13 goals and 20 assists entering Monday's game, Jagr led the Devils in scoring while Kane's 21 scores and 27 helpers paced the Hawks.

"(Jagr) was one of the (most fun) players to watch just because of his skill and how big he was and how he dominated the games," Kane, 25, said.

Cold feet: When Jagr pulled off his skates after the morning skate he wasn't wearing socks.

"I wear no socks in practice and I wear two (pairs) in the game," said Jagr, who appeared in his 1,429th career game Monday. "Strange, huh? I'll tell you why: I don't want to feel good in practice — I want to feel bad. Then (in) games (it's) mentally helping me. I feel a lot better than in practice. That's why I do it."

Drawing card: Center Marcus Kruger has shown dramatic improvement in the faceoff circle. He won 46.2 percent of his draws last season land is at 56.8 and 11th in the NHL thus far.

"It's getting better and better," Kruger said. "But it's an on-going process. You need to keep it up and do your homework on other centermen and really take pride in doing it."

Kruger has been working with Yanic Perrault, a former Hawks player who excelled at faceoffs.

"A lot of it is timing," Kruger said. "That and the right body position and it's easier to get through (an opponent) and have room to get the puck."