After missing 15 games. New York Islanders forward Hudson Fasching was back in the lineup against the Los Angeles Kings.
LOS ANGELES -- New York Islanders forward Hudson Fasching had to wait quite a long time before getting back into the lineup.
After expecting to be a healthy scratch on Jan. 25 up in Montreal, Fasching was a late addition to the lineup after Matt Martin was unable to go.
The 28-year-old struggled a bit early in the game, with a few turnovers and a penalty, before suffering a lower-body injury in the second period after falling hard into the boards following a deke attempt on Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault.
The injury landed him on long-term injured reserve.
Despite returning to Islanders' practice a few weeks later, joining his teammates in their two skates before the Stadium Series, Fasching still wasn't quite ready to go, leading to a three-game conditioning stint in Bridgeport of the American Hockey League.
After that ended, the Islanders waited a few days for salary cap and roster spot purposes to activate him off LTIR on March 5.
The Islanders were currently on a two-game winning streak, and as the wins continued to come, Fasching continued to watch from the press box, awaiting his chance.
That chance ultimately came on Monday night against the team that drafted him in the fourth round (No. 118) at the 2013 NHL Draft, the Kings, after Martin was ruled out right before the game due to a lower-body injury.
Fasching slotted in alongside youngster Kyle MacLean and Cal Clutterbuck, playing 10:19 minutes with a shot, a hit, and a block.
He was dangerous the entire night, getting in on the forecheck and creating chances, whether through individual efforts or getting up the ice on the rush.
"It feels good to be back out there," Fasching said. "The elephant in the room...I didn't want to come back into the lineup and kill the streak, obviously, but it is what it is, and it felt good to be back out there.
"Legs felt pretty good, so that's all I can ask for. I was wishing for the dub, but it is what it is."
Monday was the first time that Fasching has played with Fasching Jr -- MacLean -- who is doing exactly what Fasching did a season ago by taking advantage of an opportunity and playing himself into a starting job.
"He's a hard-working player. He's smart. He definitely knows where he needs to be out there. And he's going to the net hard. He set me up on that 2-on-1 pretty nice there. So it was a lot of fun playing with him today."
Unfortunately for Fasching, that 2-on-1 chance ended up turning into the Kings' first goal of the game.
After a smart decision by Kyle MacLean to skate the puck out of the Islanders zone, Fasching made himself a pass option on the right side of a 2-on-1. MacLean made a strong pass over to him, but with Fasching catching the puck on his forehand, that allowed Kings goalie David Rittich a tad more time to get set for the shot, which he turned aside with the glove.
Then, the Kings came the other way before Adrian Kempe beat Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin off the rush:
"Definitely doesn't feel good for the momentum," Fasching said. "I definitely wish I could have had that one. Got a good look at it there. But it's part of the game, and we have to try to find a way to be resilient."
Although Fasching wasn't on the ice for the Islanders' win streak, he saw what was happening under Patrick Roy.
"I think you can definitely see that the chemistry between the lines is humming right now," Fasching said. "I think we're supporting each other really well on the ice. You can see in our breakouts we're taking our time, we're controlling the puck a lot more. I think that's a big part of our success, is our ability to control the play and control the puck."
Here's what Roy thought of Fasching's first game back.
"I thought he played well. I thought that line did a really good job for a guy that hasn't played," Roy said. "I know he played three games in the minors, but I thought he played a good game. That line was really good."
Per Naturalstatrick.com, when the fourth line was on the ice, the Islanders outshot their opponents 4-2, owned a Corsi For percentage (shot attempts for/shot attempts against) of 55.56, and out-chanced Los Angeles 5-4.
With the Islanders off on Tuesday, we will not be given an update on Martin until after the team hits the ice for practice in Buffalo on Wednesday.
Roy said the lower-body injury was something Martin's been dealing with for a while and it flared up before puck drop.
If Martin can't go against the Sabres on Thursday night, expect Fasching to remain in the lineup.