MacDonald tough to displace on defense

NEWARK

Another Islanders game with a point, another full effort from Andrew MacDonald.

The Islanders have been crushed by injuries to their defense, as they were a year ago. The major bright spot both last season and this season has been the steady, swift rise of MacDonald, 24, a sixth-round pick who in barely 100 career NHL games has become the team's most important man on defense.

His line in Saturday night's 3-2 overtime loss to the Devils: One assist, 25:29 of ice time, three blocked shots and zero points for Devils star Ilya Kovalchuk. All in a day's work.

"You just try to embrace the responsibility," MacDonald said before the game.

MacDonald came up through the ranks, spending time in the East Coast League and with Bridgeport of the AHL, playing for current Islanders coach Jack Capuano, before opening eyes after his call-up in November of last season. By the time he missed all of last March with a broken foot, he was regularly getting 23 to 25 minutes a night on a decimated defense.

With all the veterans brought in for this season, MacDonald came to camp without any assumptions.

"I was really just looking to be on the Opening Day roster," he said. "They signed a few NHL veterans, we had some guys here -- you had to prove you belonged here, and I think it's great to have that mind-set."

The broken hand that cost him 15 games this season -- pretty crucial ones, considering he went down with his team at 4-1-2 and came back to a new coach and a 5-12-5 record -- could have been a setback.

Instead, within two weeks of returning, he was wearing an alternate captain's "A'' given him by Capuano. MacDonald also was pairing with Travis Hamonic, the solidly built 20-year-old, and they quickly became the top defensive pair.

"We had no hesitation giving him the 'A' -- he leads by example," Capuano said. "And we did get some veteran guys back, but those two have earned the time they've gotten."

In addition to a very noticeable assist Saturday night -- his off-target shot was tipped in by John Tavares to put the Isles ahead in the second period -- MacDonald has 26 points in his last 41 games, and the Isles are 22-14-5 in that stretch. He also makes plays that typically go unnoticed by all except those behind the bench.

For example: Midway through the second period, the Islanders were holding a 2-1 lead and playing four-on-four with the Devils. Tavares and Matt Moulson were at the end of a long shift and MacDonald, just on the ice, picked up the puck in the neutral zone. He had a chance to try and send Moulson and Tavares back in on a rush but knew they were gassed; MacDonald peeled back and waited for two fresh forwards to come on.

There's also his team-leading 143 blocked shots, which is how you end up missing a few weeks with a broken foot or a broken hand.

When the Islanders get Mark Streit back next season, as well as Mike Mottau and Mark Eaton -- the veterans who were supposed to eat up the bulk of the minutes on defense this season -- MacDonald may very well find himself in a different spot. Doesn't look that way, though.

The Islanders searched the free-agent crop the last few seasons to find a 25-minute-per-night defenseman who could match up against an opponent's top forwards, who could play on the power play, who could kill penalties.

They found him. He was here the whole time.