CENTER OF ATTENTION: With Travis Zajac expected to line up as the No. 1 center, between Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk, in the first round against the Panthers, the Devils are significantly stronger up front. (UPI)
SUNRISE, Fla. — One twinge and he probably was gone, and with him would vanish much of the heightened hopes the Devils have for their return to the playoffs.
Travis Zajac is the reason the playoff Devils are considerably better than the regular-season version of just three weeks ago. It’s as if they acquired a No. 1 center just before the playoffs, significantly strengthening an already formidable team.
Zajac is expected to line up as the Devils’ No. 1 center, between Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk, when they open the first round against the Panthers tonight.
The Devils spent all season trying to fill the hole in the middle he left when he underwent Achilles tendon surgery last summer. It seemed doubly ominous after New Jersey missed the playoffs, unable to fill voids left by Zach Parise and Bryce Salvador the year before.
Zajac’s only been back seven games in this comeback, after going eight games at Christmas before returning to the shelf, and considering sitting out the rest of this season.
“I wanted to come back, but I had to look at the big picture, too. If it wasn’t feeling right, I don’t think I would have come back,” Zajac told The Post yesterday. “If I had not felt right at any point, it would have been something I would have looked at. Coming back the second time, I knew what to expect. If I felt any of the pain, the swelling or the soreness, well, it didn’t happen.”
Zajac, the Devils’ 2004 first-round pick, went back on the injured list Jan. 4, back in a immobilization boot, back to wondering if he would play again this season.
“It was always in the back of my mind, especially going through it a second time. But the longer it went without trouble, the better I felt,” said Zajac, who suffered the initial injury jumping in training exercises.
“Now, here I am, and there’s nothing more for me to be worried about,” Zajac said.
He and Parise, old linemates, have played little together the past two seasons. They and Kovalchuk spent only the final five games together, but the promise was significant.
Zajac’s return moved rookie Adam Henrique to the third line, though Henrique was a revelation in Zajac’s absence, a savior when the Devils needed one. Now they have three dangerous lines, and they look vastly improved.
* Devils coach Pete DeBoer said he guarded against turning the Devils’ six-day pre-playoff break into a calculus class.
“The biggest mistake you can make is overthinking, overcoaching,” DeBoer said. “I really think you can overprepare. You don’t want to paralyze them.”