PITTSBURGH — When Hudson Fasching was called up to the Islanders in early December, he wasn’t even the first call-up to get a chance in the lineup.
It was only after Cole Bardreau made an underwhelming impression that Fasching drew into the mix, the hope being that he could fill in for Cal Clutterbuck on the fourth line as the Islanders sorted out their injuries. Four months later, Fasching hasn’t left.
The little-known 27-year-old, who had played 38 NHL games across seven seasons going into 2022-23, has become a staple of the Islanders’ bottom-six. And he scored the game-winning goal off his knee in the biggest victory of the season so far, against Buffalo on Tuesday night.
Out of nowhere, keeping Fasching — an unrestricted free agent — in the mix for next season looks like it should be a priority for general manager Lou Lamoriello. A player who wasn’t on anyone’s radar back at training camp, Fasching has made it.
“When I got called up, I kinda told myself like, ‘Screw it. We’re just gonna pretend I’m confident right from the get-go.’ And that was kinda the game plan,” Fasching said after the 3-2 win over the Sabres. “We’re just gonna run with it, see how it goes.”
Fasching is an endearingly Midwestern character. Polite and unflinching. When he first started making an impact in the Islanders’ lineup, he knew it couldn’t be temporary. Still on Tuesday, he talked about “trying to keep proving” he belongs each day.
“You play six years in the minors, there’s only so many kicks at the can you got,” Fasching said. “In my mind, it’s one of the last shots at it. That’s kinda why I was trying to do that, I guess.”
Coach Lane Lambert briefly let himself grin on Tuesday night when asked about Fasching’s rise.
“It makes me feel great,” he said. “You like the guys and all our guys work. They come to work every day, they practice hard and whoever it might be, we’re happy for them and the guys are all happy for each other. Hudson’s having a good run here.”
Fasching joked that he didn’t think there was much difference between fake and real confidence, so it’s hard to know which he’s carrying now. It should, though, be real. Fasching is not coming out of the lineup anytime soon, and he has more than likely earned himself an NHL contract somewhere this summer.
While playing with the Sabres, the team for which he made his NHL debut in March 2016, Fasching started paying more attention to his mental approach.
“Meditation, journaling, stuff like that. I think that’s a big part of the game,” he said. “To have your mind be clear out there is incredibly important. I’ve been working on the mental side probably since then, since I realized how important it was.”
That’s all paying off now, as Fasching has found a home on the third line skating alongside Casey Cizikas. On Tuesday, that duo was on the ice together for 10:45 at even strength, alongside both Matt Martin and Josh Bailey. Fasching assisted Cizikas from behind the net on the Islanders’ first goal, then scored the game-winner just over seven minutes into the third period, deflecting Bailey’s pass off his knee and in.
All game, the two of them brought needed energy to the Islanders, dominating with the puck and wearing down the Sabres. The high-danger chance counter read 8-0 with the two of them on the ice, with the shot margin at 10-2. That game erased any doubt about what Fasching’s role should be.
“It’s one of those things, you always try to believe in yourself,” Fasching said. “I always believed if I had a true opportunity to do it, I could do it.”
That belief has now been vindicated.