DETROIT — When Marc Gatcomb returned to the Islanders lineup nearly two weeks ago for the first time since the second game of the season, the assumption was it would be temporary.
Gatcomb, after all, had spent much of the year in the AHL. He was put back in the lineup after Jonathan Drouin joined Kyle Palmieri and Jean-Gabriel Pageau on the shelf, acting as a Band-Aid for the Islanders forward corps.
Well, Drouin and Pageau are back now, though Bo Horvat has since gotten hurt too. And Gatcomb hasn’t gone anywhere.
Instead, he’s forced Patrick Roy to make room for him in the lineup and make Max Tsyplakov a healthy scratch. The fourth line has been a force since Gatcomb has joined Casey Cizikas and Kyle MacLean, so there hasn’t been much of a choice for Roy other than to keep it going.
“He’s taking advantage of the opportunity he has,” Roy said after Gatcomb scored his only goal of the season against Vegas last week. “Mathieu [Darche] and I, we said this year it has nothing to do with who you are. It’s if you’re playing better than a guy, you’re gonna be in the lineup.”
Gatcomb plays a hard-charging style — 39 hits in seven games — that is uniquely suited to the fourth line and perhaps specifically to this version of the fourth line.
In six games together, the trio of Cizikas, Gatcomb and MacLean has a 60.05 expected goals percentage. There’s some small-sample inflation there to be sure, but it’s not something the Islanders are likely to mess with right now.
“I think just sticking with the same mindset I had previously,” Gatcomb said. “Just coming in, working hard every day. Just doing what I can to help the guys out. I think me, Casey and Mac have been playing well together. So just keep building chemistry and build off that.”
Per team statistician Eric Hornick, the Islanders’ 12 points in December with seven games left to play already are more than the 11 points they had last December. They also have already beaten their point total from the calendar year 2024 (86) with 88 in 2025.
The Islanders beat the Red Wings 7-2 and 5-0 in the first two games between them. A season sweep would mark their first against Detroit since 2019-20.
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