Casey Cizikas a grinder and Game 2 hero on the Islanders' 'Identity Line'
New York Islanders' Casey Cizikas celebrates his winning goal in overtime of Game 2 of a second-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins on May 31, 2021. Credit: AP/Winslow Townson
It would be an oversimplification to frame the Bruins-Islanders series in terms of Boston’s elite "Perfection Line" and the Islanders’ blue-collar "Identity Line."
The Bruins have their share of grinders, and the Islanders have several highly skilled players.
But how can we resist, given the delicious contrast in monikers for each team’s most well-known trio — and given how the Islanders see themselves?
Especially so after Casey Cizikas tied a bow on that narrative on Monday night, scoring on a breakaway at 14:48 of overtime to give the Islanders a 4-3 victory and even the second-round playoff series at 1-1.
The story of Game 1 was the performance of Boston’s Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. The grand finale of Game 2 came from a fourth-line center who last scored a playoff goal in 2015.
Asked after the game about his long postseason drought, Cizikas said this:
"You want to contribute. You want to score goals. But at the end of the day, that’s not our line’s goal. We want to create havoc out there. We want to create momentum for the line after us and put them in a good spot.
"It was definitely nice, but we’re going to keep working. We’re going to keep doing what makes us successful as a line, and that’s working hard and grinding it out."
It is odd to hear a hockey center declare that his line’s goal is not to score goals. But such is the mindset Cizikas, Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck bring to the job.
Goals are good. Cizikas scored 20 of them only two seasons ago. But they are a byproduct.
"When they’re playing as a line and just keeping it simple and smart, they’re very effective," coach Barry Trotz said on Tuesday. "When Casey scored the 20 goals — he has good skills, but how he got those were basically just playing a meat-and-potatoes game, which they do, and he capitalized on his chances."
Trotz added, "Casey would never have scored 20 goals if they had gotten away from their identity."
The coach also said Martin has a skill set that is "sneaky good," and noted the five goals he scored in the playoffs last year — one more than Cizikas now has in a 10-year career. Cizikas scored seven goals this past regular season.
He showed plenty of skill on his game-winner, coming in alone on goalie Tuukka Rask after a Bruins turnover.
"I liked the poise he went in with," Trotz said. "Head up, and he was motoring down the ice and he knew what he was going to do there."
His teammates loved it. The first two huggers to greet him on the ice were Martin and Clutterbuck.
"We’re so happy for him; he deserves it," Josh Bailey said. "Pumped for ‘Z.’ "
Trotz called it a "character" win for a character guy.
It was the kind of thing the Islanders need as a team that relies on four lines more than do the Bruins, whose first group might be the best in the league and whose second nearly won Game 2 when Semyon Varlamov made a big stop on Taylor Hall in overtime.
"They’re dangerous as all get-out," Trotz said in his latest paean to the "Perfection Line."
By contrast, he said, "Casey and them — you’re not going to say they’re three superstars, but they give a blue-collar identity to our team."
Trotz said the Bruins have a lot of that in their organizational DNA also, but let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good story.
The Bruins’ No. 1 line is "perfect." The Islanders’ No. 4 line is imperfect. Each has had its moments in the first two games. On to the Coliseum.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
