If Max Shabanov stays at the level he has been at since returning from an upper-body injury, two things are all but guaranteed.
First, the Islanders pulled off a coup in beating out a group of teams to sign Shabanov out of the KHL last summer.
And second, Shabanov is not long for the fourth line, where he has started in two of his three games since being back in the lineup.
For now, though, taking Shabanov off a fourth line that was outright dominant Thursday night would amount to insanity.
The Russian’s two-goal, three-point night that keyed the Islanders to a 5-0 win in Detroit on Friday was only the cherry on top of a trip that amounted to a thunderclap for the 25-year-old winger.
His instant chemistry with Cal Ritchie elevated both their games and turned the fourth line into a weapon. Shabanov, whose ability to withstand NHL physicality was his biggest question mark coming into the season, did not hesitate to go into the dirty areas and was effective in corners and on the forecheck.
And his skill with the puck, which has never really been a question, was on display in his second goal Thursday with a spellbinding piece of stickhandling and finish past Red Wings goalie John Gibson.
“I feel good. I’m just so excited about my game,” Shabanov said Thursday via Alexander Romanov, who acted as an impromptu interpreter in the postgame dressing room. “I’m so excited that the team won. Good night for me.”
Shabanov is just nine games into his NHL career, and not every game will be like Thursday’s.
The other Russian free agent on the Islanders’ roster, Max Tsyplakov, is currently out of the lineup after an up-and-down rookie season, and has struggled to bring his game to the next level in North America, despite obvious talent.
There have been, and will be, moments in which Shabanov struggles with that jump, too.
Right now, though, the way he, Ritchie and Casey Cizikas are elevating each other on that fourth line is obvious to see.
“You can see, he played really well tonight,” Ilya Sorokin said Thursday. “Watching, he should do [that] every game. Play more pucks, I think being [more] confident game by game.”
It is not a traditional fourth line with two offense-first players in Shabanov and Ritchie. But it is working.
“He’s so smart,” Ritchie said. “He’s always looking to make a play. Has a good awareness of where guys are on the ice at all times. That pass to me on my goal is unreal. Obviously he had three points (later amended to two) tonight that were unreal.”
Ritchie’s game has jumped up a level, too. Some of that has to do with the simple matter of the 21-year-old spending more time in the NHL, but it’s impossible to ignore Shabanov’s impact within that equation.
“I think I’m starting to get more settled in,” Ritchie said. “I think all along I was playing good hockey, I thought. Just a matter of time to start getting those bounces and start creating more offensively. I think just settled in, been getting some chemistry with these guys.”
Cizikas, who finished the game with two assists, isn’t used to playing on a line like this, but you wouldn’t know it from watching.
“The three of us [are] just staying with it,” he told The Post. “Reading off each other really well, creating chances, and those two guys are extremely skilled. They see the ice really well. They handle the puck well and you can tell by the plays that they’re making out there, they find each other. Make those difficult plays look easy, and I think that’s where it stems from. Keeping it simple, but I think they’re making the plays that need to be done.”
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