It all happened so quickly for the New York Islanders. Their fourth line center, Casey Cizikas, went down with an injury in their win over the San Jose Sharks. It was clear that he wouldn’t be able to go so, the Islanders signed Stephen Gionta to a contract.
The contract came as a surprise because they already have an excess of fourth line bodies. Why wouldn’t they just put Ross Johnston in and then move Leo Komarov, who’s won 66.7 percent of his faceoffs this year, as the fourth line center for the day?
Well, the Islanders elected to play Gionta who was fairly bad.