Ilya Kovalchuk rejoined New Jersey's lineup on Sunday, one night after he was benched by coach John MacLean for an undisclosed reason. The $100 million forward, in the first year of a 15-year deal with the Devils, met with the media before New Jersey faced New York. "I'm just a player and I'm just going to show up tonight and play," Kovalchuk said. "I want to be on the ice. That's the bottom line. I'm going to be tonight. I'm excited to be back and be with the team again."