"It feels great," Zacha said. "When I got the call [to return to New Jersey], it was really nice to hear that. Coming back to the locker room today, it was great to see all the guys. I'm excited to play."
Zacha spent the last four games in Binghamton where he earned five assists in four games play. The Czech forward centered Binghamton's top line where he ate up a lot of minutes and played in all situations.
"They wanted to see more offensive play [from me]," Zacha added. "They wanted to see confidence in my game and that's what why they gave me the chance [in Binghamton] to play a lot of minutes, power play, penalty kill, special teams, everything. That's exactly what I did there, I played a lot of minutes and started to get my confidence back a little bit."
When Zacha originally was sent to Binghamton, he knew he had the support of the whole organization behind him. Several of his teammates texted him to wish him good luck and told him to work hard and they knew that he'd be back up at some point this season.
"Pav is back and it's an opportunity for guys to step up," forward Kyle Palmieri said. "We know how we have to play to win and we take a deep breath after the road trip and now we're focused on winning tonight's game."
Zacha will be thrown right back into the fold, with Marcus Johansson and Jesper Bratt on his second line wings. He also took second power play unit repetitions during morning skate.
"Pav went down and played really well," Hynes said. "We had lots of our management and development guys down there watching. I had a good discussion with [Binghamton head coach] Mark Dennehy. [Zacha] went in, used his size, used his skating, defensively he played strong. He did a really good job as a low center on breakouts, and they played him in important minutes, which is why we sent him down there. All reports were that he went down and had a good attitude and he was one of the better players in his stint there."
The Devils are coming off a difficult road trip where they went 1-6-0 and will play at home Tuesday, for the first time since October 27, in a win against the Florida Panthers.
"It was a long time away," Palmieri said. "Obviously it didn't go the way we wanted but we have an opportunity to play against a really good team, a team that has the Stanley Cup pedigree and we just have to find a way to raise our game and play a game that's worthy of beating our opponent."
New Jersey will play only four home games in the month of November.
The Devils will also honor newly inducted member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Martin Brodeur Tuesday night. Brodeur will take part in the ceremonial puck drop prior to the start of the game.
