The Columbus Blue Jackets came into Tuesday night's home affair versus the visiting New York Islanders short-handed.
Already without Zach Werenski who left Saturday's game against the Minnesota Wild with an upper-body injury, the club was also without their head coach as Brad Larsen entered COVID protocol.
Pascal Vincent serves as head coach for #CBJ tonight. Jared Boll will run the D and Kenny McCudden will run the forwards. Zach Werenski will not play tonight. Adam Boqvist draws back in. pic.twitter.com/iUQ6aSBWjt
— Dave Maetzold (@DMaetzMedia) March 29, 2022
Islanders are without Cal Clutterbuck, Scott Mayfield, Sebastian Aho, Ross Johnston and G Ilya Sorokin.
— Mark Scheig (@markscheig) March 29, 2022
Seymon Varlamov starts vs. #CBJ. He has been great against them in past, a .935 save% in 15 previous starts. That's his best against any opponent.
Seymon Varlamov started in goal for the Islanders, making 42 saves as the Islanders skated away with the 4-3 win to shake a two-game skid.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NY ISLANDERS | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| BLUE JACKETS | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Brock Nelson had two points including a goal, and Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauvillier, and Zach Parise all scored for the Islanders. Anders Lee and Mathew Barzal each had two assists.
Vladislav Gavrikov had two goals and Oliver Bjorkstrand also scored for the Blue Jackets. Patrik Laine had two assists. Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves.
Fresh off a first period penalty kill, Gavrikov opened up the scoring with his fourth at 7:20 to give the Blue Jackets the 1-0 lead off a rebound. Assists went to Andrew Peeke and Patrik Laine. It doesn't show up on the scoreboard but Jack Roslovic played a part in creating a net-front presence in front of Varlamov.
Gavy's 4th #CBJ pic.twitter.com/POvoLN5HOY
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) March 30, 2022
On the other end, Nelson scored his 32nd—200th career goal—on the Islanders' second power play of the first period at 11:47 to tie things at one apiece. Barzal picked up an assist when he threw the puck towards the crease, and Nelson was able to fire through from the face-off circle to Merzlikins' left. Lee also assisted.
A bit later on, the Islanders grabbed their first lead, which they never relinquished.
Josh Bailey settled a puck in the slot and fired it past Merzlikins for his eighth at 15:09. Jean-Gabriel Pageau started the sequence by skating the puck down low, dragging three Blue Jackets with him, before curling back up and getting the pass to Nelson.
#CBJ have been a wreck from the red line back. Costs them here. Boqvist a soft play with the puck in the neutral zone. Seconds later, #Isles Josh Bailey whistling down the slot, way too much time, beats Merzlikins.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) March 29, 2022
2-1 #Isles at 15:09
In the second period, Beauvillier's 11th made it 3-1 at 3:47 and both Nelson and Lee picked up their second points of the night.
Just to Merzlikins' left, Nelson shot a puck off the far side of the crossbar as it ricocheted to Beauvillier on the opposite sideboard. There wasn't much for Merzlikins to do as he was down and couldn't recover in time. Beauvillier's shot somehow came in from the corner.
Digging the hole deeper, Parise's 11th made it 4-1 Islanders at 9:10. Barzal earned his second point. Noah Dobson got the cross-seam pass off to Parise who was there at the back step of Merzlikins for the goal.
With one multi-goal game earlier this season, Gavrikov's second of the game, and fifth of the season at 13:32, stopped a string of four straight Islanders goals. The tally cut the deficit in half at 4-2.
Jake Voracek picked up his team-leading 44th assist and Laine scored his second helper.
ring ring #CBJ pic.twitter.com/brHRepl7D5
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) March 30, 2022
The Blue Jackets were able to effectively move the puck down low as Gavrikov started high and worked his way down low to send home the feed by Voracek.
Gavrikov now has two multi-goal games this season
— CBJ Stats (@BlueJacketStats) March 30, 2022
and only five total goals for the year. #CBJ
Known for being a comeback team this season, the Blue Jackets were up to their old tricks.
Columbus dominated the third period, outshooting the Islanders 16-3.
They had to kill off an early penalty and after doing that, scored soon after, just like in the first period. Oliver Bjorktrand's career-high 24th came unassisted at 4:30 to get the Jackets within one.
Bjorkstrand's career-high 24th! pic.twitter.com/3VNbI7aARZ #CBJ
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) March 30, 2022
Though it felt like more were coming, the Islanders were able to successfully kill off a late power play and ensuing 6-on-4 as the Blue Jackets pulled Merzlikins for the extra-attacker. A strong push throughout the final frame wasn't enough to overcome the deficit as the Islanders prevailed for the win.
Columbus has dropped four straight games.
- Shots: 45-29 Blue Jackets
- Hits: 20-17 Blue Jackets
- Faceoff Wins: 30-23 Blue Jackets
- Blocked Shots: 14-5 Islanders
- Power Play: Islanders 1-for-4, Blue Jackets 0-for-3
- Oliver Bjorkstrand led both teams with eight shots
- Vladislav Gavrikov had three blocked shots in addition to his two goals and played a game-high 25:24; Ryan Pulock led both teams with four blocked shots
- Andrew Peeke played in his 100th career game
- The Blue Jackets honored the OSU Women's National Championship team prior to the game
Next Up
The Blue Jackets (32-30-5, 69 points) complete the home-and-home and season series with the Islanders (29-27-9, 67 points) on Thursday from UBS Arena. The Blue Jackets are 1-1-0 against the Islanders this season. Puck drop is at 7:00 pm ET.
