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Mark Fayne will come out of the Devils' lineup tonight.

(Photo by Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Devils coach Pete DeBoer said he will make a change to his defense tonight against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.

Henrik Tallinder will return to the lineup in place of Mark Fayne, who has struggled at times over the last two games.

"I don't know if he's had two tough games. There are some areas of his game that he can clean up," DeBoer said of Fayne. "With Fayner, it's never for a lack of effort. At the same time, with back-to-back games and three in four (nights) this weekend, we want to use fresh legs and the opportunity to get Tally in there."

Johan Hedberg will start in goal.

The Devils had a 15-minute team meeting prior to an optional practice.

Hedberg, Bobby Butler, Tallinder, Jacob Josefson, Fayne, Anton Volchenkov, Peter Harrold, Steve Bernier, Ryan Carter, Stefan Matteau, Krys Barch took part in the practice.

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Travis Zajac ended an 11-game goal-scoring drought when he scored 40 seconds into Friday night's victory over the Flyers.

It was, to a certain degree, a relief even though Zajac has been playing well.

"It's nice to contribute in other ways. Scoring is one of them," Zajac said. "I felt like I was playing well. I knew it was just a matter of time. I hope I can continue to build off this and get some chemistry going with Poni (Alexei Ponikarovsky) and Kovy (Ilya Kovalchuk). We want to be a line that can produce every night."

DeBoer was pleased for Zajac.

"I think it's a reinforcement of the message that if you work hard and stick with it and you do things the right way, you'll eventually get rewarded," DeBoer said. "If that reward never comes you start to lose some faith and some hope. But I never saw any of that with him through the process. I knew it would be a matter of time."

Rich Chere: rchere@starledger.com; twitter.com/Ledger_NJDevils