The biggest question facing Maxim Shabanov’s return to the New York Islanders’ lineup was where he’d play.
Given the win streak and the strong play of the top nine, it seemed that the only spot for Shabanov to start would be on the fourth line. And that’s exactly what happened on Sunday night against the Colorado Avalanche, skating alongside Calum Ritchie and Casey Cizikas.
Ritchie, who had shown well defensively since being recalled, had not shown much offensively through his first eight games with the Islanders.
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Could Shabanov’s offensive instincts and skating help create more for Ritchie in the offensive zone?
While Ritchie didn’t record a shot on goal in his 6:54 minutes, a line that eventually was taken out of the rotation with the Islanders in need of a goal — Shabanov continued to play — the fourth line played more in the offensive zone than they had previously.
When he and Ritchie were on the ice (5:13), the Islanders owned a Corsi For% % of 77.78, holding the Avalanche to one shot — that last goal — garnering two shots of their own and two scoring chances.
Despite missing 12 games due to an upper-body injury, Shabanov looked locked in.
In 9:19 minutes, Shabanov recorded two shots on goal, with three individual scoring chances, two of which were considered high-danger.
The goal they were on the ice for came in garbage time.
“I thought he played well,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said of Shabanov. “With the type of injury he had, upper body injury, you’re curious to see how someone’s going to react to contact because you don’t really get hit in the practices. So I thought he didn’t shy away from any of that.”
Roy was asked postgame how he saw Ritchie and Casey Cizikas feed off Shabanov?
“I thought they had good buzz,” Roy said. “And, when they were out there, I thought that they possessed the puck. I thought they had a great game, the three together.”
The Islanders’ fourth line had an identity for ages and this current iteration of the bottom three has struggled to find their game consistently, regardless of who has been on the line.
Every team is at their best when they can roll four lines and with Cizikas-Ritchie-Shabanov is the fastest version of this fourth line that we have seen so far.
We’ll see if Roy tweaks his lines ahead of their Tuesday night showdown with the Dallas Stars, but if not, look for that threesome, particularly Shabanov and Ritchie, to build on their performance against Colorado.
