Well, for a while, it did indeed look that way. When Cal Clutterbuck left a mid-January game in Buffalo and the Islanders slapped an “indefinite” label on his return and Hudson Fasching seemed to click in Clutterbuck’s usual spot next to Casey Cizikas and nearly two months passed, you could see the writing on the wall.
On Long Island, you see Clutterbuck and Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin, together again. Like it should be. After keeping the Identity Line apart when Clutterbuck first got back in the lineup on March 11, coach Lane Lambert reunited themAgainst the Leafs, with the Islanders in control of the matchups, they matched the fourth line up against Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on Toronto’s top line for large stretches of the game. A vintage performance.