The MRI results removed fear of a serious knee injury, but Jason Arnott still had to undergo a self-examination when he resumed practicing with the Devils yesterday.
The results of this skating test were good, Arnott reported, leaving him optimistic that he will play tomorrow night when the Devils host the Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
“I feel a lot better out there,” Arnott, the Devils’ “A” Line center, said after the rigorous one-hour practice at the Meadowlands. “The test will be how I feel tomorrow after skating today. We just have to see, but I felt a lot better today than I did a couple of days ago.”
Injuring his left knee during Game 5 against Carolina last Friday, Arnott was scratched for Game 6 Sunday when he felt uncomfortable during the pre-game skate.
An MRI revealed no damage Monday, a huge relief to Arnott and the Devils as they head into what should be a passionately contested series against the suddenly hot Maple Leafs.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be something major,” said Arnott, 26, who had one goal and one assist in the opening round. “But you never know with knee injuries, so it was a big relief.”
After his aborted try on Sunday, Arnott said he was able to skate yesterday with “a lot more power.”
“My biggest problem [Sunday] was when I was bending my leg taking a stride out of the corner,” he said. “I didn’t have much power in warm-ups. Today I’m just getting that back, so it’s a good feeling.”
Perhaps, however, Toronto doesn’t share the sentiment. During the conference semis last year, the line of Arnott, Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora wowed the Maple Leafs and their goaltender Curtis Joseph, leading the Devils to a 4-games-to-2 victory.
In the process, the Devils’ trio combined for seven goals and nine assists and was a plus-six.
With Toronto’s weaknesses exposed, Leafs coach and general manager Pat Quinn used the offseason to bring in veteran forwards Shayne Corson and Gary Roberts. But after a strong start to the season, the Leafs, working under a constant Eric Lindros watch, would almost completely dissolve and barely made the playoffs.
Nonetheless, the seventh-seeded Leafs found new life in the first round with a shocking sweep of the No. 2-seed Senators en route to a rematch with the Devils.
“Obviously they’re a much better team [than last year],” Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko said. “They are built more for the playoffs.”
In other words, they are more physically imposing, with Corson (team-high 189 penalty minutes) a major source of that growth.
In the series against Ottawa, Corson, 34, was mainly responsible for keeping Alexei Yashin without a goal. It is expected that his next assignment will be to shadow Arnott, as well.
“Any time you get someone that shadows you, you got to take it as a compliment,” said Arnott, who had 21 goals and 35 assists in 54 games this season.
Ironically, Arnott played his first two NHL seasons with Corson with the Oilers (1993-95), and credits the 16-year veteran as being a mentor. The two, in fact, remain friends and keep in touch.
“It’ll be interesting because we did play together for so long,” Arnott said. “He helped me start my career and I owe him a lot for that. He showed me that hard work pays dividends, and it did.”
Depending on his knee, Arnott can only hope to remind Corson of that tomorrow night.