Islanders Kyle MacLean draws praise for physicality after hit ignites firestorm

SAN JOSE, Calif.— Kyle MacLean was sporting a blackened right eye and a couple of stitches underneath it Tuesday, the residual effect of his bout with Ty Dellandrea one night prior.It had been MacLean’s hit on Ivar Stenberg along the near-side boards that ignited the eventual 3-2 Islanders loss to San Jose into a maelstrom, as the Sharks reacted with fury over a hit late in the second period that was hard but legal.Things nearly escalated into a fight between Mitchell Chaffee and Tyler Toffoli in the immediate aftermath, but the officials merely delayed the inevitable by breaking it up.

MacLean dropped the gloves with Dellandrea following the next faceoff, as did Chaffee with Barclay Goodrow.“I just hit him and I think Dellandrea there felt he needed to stand up for his guy.He asked me.

It was pretty cordial,” MacLean told The Post.“I thought it was a good time.

Plus for him, he’s standing up for his guy.“I didn’t even know Chaf’ was going on the other side.Only noticed that midway through my fight [when] I looked over.

I think it was, obviously, a passionate game.They want to stick up for their guy.”MacLean and Chaffee are both obvious candidates to come out of the Islanders lineup when the club gets all of its forwards back from injury, but this was a reminder of what they can bring.“Listen, I think those guys have to create energy and momentum for us,” coach Pete DeBoer said.

“There’s different ways to do that.It’s either with the puck and tilting the ice or if not, it’s physicality.

Good on them, on getting involved in the game in a physical way.”On the injury front, all three of Mathew Barzal, Ryan Pulock and Matias Maccelli were full-contact participants in Tuesday’s practice.Sign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.

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