Islanders Look Lost Without Full Fourth Line

With both Casey Cizkas and Cal Clutterbuck out, and then Matt Martin taking a game misconduct the New York Islanders were lost.

I mean this with no disrespect to the Martin – Cizikas – Clutterbuck line which I happen to like a lot, but there is no reason to look as bad as what the New York Islanders have without your fourth line intact.

Cal Clutterbuck got hurt on December 19 against the Boston Bruins. It was a scary injury and obviously we knew he would be out for a while but it wasn’t really obvious how bad the Isles forwards could look with Cal gone.

Since Clutterbuck has been out the Islanders are 4-5-2. On top of that, the Isles were without Casey Cizkas last night after he took a puck to the groin in Saturday’s loss to Boston. The bottom six with Derrick Brassard and Leo Komarov centering it is simply not effective.

So last night, the Isles were already without two-thirds of their fourth line and then 10 seconds into his first shift, Matt Martin takes a game misconduct. After that, the Rangers would score six unanswered goals on their way to a 6-2 win.

Yes, there are nine other forwards on the ice that need to be better but it’s just very bizarre to see how bad this team is without that line going. Not the most ideal way to have a team built.

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