ELMONT, NY — A New York Islanders fourth line has not been this well-regarded since Casey Cizikas was flanked by Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin.
Nowadays, the veteran center has found a new formula with new linemates to contribute to winning Islanders hockey, doing so alongside Marc Gatcomb and Kyle MacLean. It is not just frenetic energy and endless checking, but there is some skill involved in all of this, too.
Trailing 2-1 early in the second period, New York’s fourth line went to work in the Vegas Golden Knights’ zone. Gatcomb dumped the puck down the right boards behind the Knights’ net, then put pressure on defenseman Shea Theodore by crunching him into the glass as he tried to clear it back from its originating point.
Coming down those right boards above the circle, Cizikas touched it back deep into the corner, kept his legs moving, and regained possession after a touch through from MacLean. As Cizikas meandered around the net and made his way up to the goal line on the left side of Carter Hart’s post, he sput back down toward his forehand and sent a perfect pass to Gatcomb, who was waiting in front to redirect it in to tie it up.
“What a play by Casey,” Gatcomb, a righty, said. “I could have scored that lefty, probably. He put that thing on a platter. Credit to them, I was just in the right spot. They’ve been playing great.”
“That was a phenomenal play by Casey, but what I loved the most was how they protected the puck in the O-zone,” head coach Patrick Roy said. “They were spending a lot of time in the O-zone, and that’s the way they’ve been playing for a while. They’ve brought a lot of energy to our team, that intensity that they have shift after shift after shift, that’s impressive.”
Among the Islanders’ 16 different line combinations that have spent at least 30 minutes together this season, the MacLean-Cizikas-Gatcomb trio is among the best. Their expected goals rate of 67.7% ranks third, while their 3.6 expected goals per 60 minutes ranks fourth. They are one of only three trios with an expected goals against of one or fewer, per MoneyPuck.
Cizikas has three points in his last four games after having just four in his first 27 games this season.
After recording just one point in his first 13 games, MacLean has a goal and an assist in his last four.
Then there is Gatcomb, who, in just nine-plus minutes in his fifth game of the season on Tuesday night, not only had that goal, but nine hits. It is that level of play that has kept last year’s high-profile signing, Russian forward Maxim Tsyplakov, out of the lineup.
“He brings a lot of spark,” Roy said of Gatcomb. “Sometimes I don’t look at stats, but I was in the office [between the second and third periods], and I said, ‘Holy —, seven hits already?’ That’s pretty impressive. But you know what? He’s taking advantage of the opportunity that he has. It’s nothing to do with who you are. If you’re playing better than a guy, you’re going to be in the lineup. We proved it with Tsyplaov and him.”
This is sort of depth production that is needed behind the likes of star center Bo Horvat, who scored his 18th and 19th goals of the season in New York’s 5-4 shootout win over the Golden Knights after squandering the lead with just 12.1 seconds left in regulation.
“It’s always a positive when we can contribute that way,” Gatcomb said. “As a line, our mindset stays the same. We’ve just been working hard, and I think it shows that when we get on their defense, it creates a lot. So we’ve just been getting chances, and it’s nice to see some of those go in.”
