| 1 | 2 | 3 (OT) (SO) | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
0 | 2 | 1 (0) (0-1-x) | 4 |
 |
2 | 1 | 0 (0) (0-0-0) | 3 |
|
CBJ GOALS: |
||||
Cinema, as the say.
The Columbus Blue Jackets rallied from down 2-0 after the first and 3-2 with just seven minutes in the third to defeat the New York Islanders 4-3 in a shootout Monday night.
Columbus allowed the first goal for the seventh consecutive game at the 13:16 mark of the first period and fell behind 2-0 later in the period.
"The first period wasn't us at all, obviously," said captain Boone Jenner. "We weren't playing our game, turning pucks over, losing battles."
"All year we haven't accepted that, so we knew we had better and obviously the second and third were much better efforts."
After starting the second with a successful penalty kill, the Blue Jackets got on the board with Adam Fantilli's 22nd goal of the season. Later in the period, Columbus would tie the game on a short-handed goal from Jenner.
But the Blue Jackets would still enter the third period trailing by one when a deflection by New York's Anders Lee would get past Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins with just 48 seconds left in the period.
Down a goal for over half of the third, the Blue Jackets peppered the Isles and goalie Ilya Sorokin with shots and eventually connected when Kirill Marchenko fired a slapper from the top of the right circle that got past Sorokin to tie the game at 3-3 with 7:06 left.
New York nearly regained the lead and all but secured the win when Kyle Palmieri seemingly scored with just under ten seconds left in regulation — but the goal was waved off by officials for goaltender interference. That decision was upheld when sent to the league for what was one of the longer reviews of the season.
"It took so long," said head coach Dean Evason. "It was really gut-wrenching there for a while to look up at the clock and see basically nothing left."
Each team got off just two shots in the overtime period, but both of New York's shots were saved in spectacular fashion by Merzlikins, keeping the game tied through 65 minutes. In the shootout, Fantilli was the lone goal-scorer to give Columbus the win.
The victory ended a six-game losing streak by the Blue Jackets and brought them to within two points of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. It was also the team's first win at UBS Arena; they were 0-5-1 entering the game.
Here's how the Blue Jackets got back into the win column:
1st Period:
(13:16 — NYI Goal): The goal-scoring sequence starts when the Blue Jackets have trouble entering their own zone, resulting in a giveaway that springs an Islanders rush. Pierre Engvall fires from just inside the right circle to give New York a 1-0 lead.
(18:41 — NYI Goal): The Islanders double their lead with just over a minute left in the first. Bo Horvat makes a good pass in the corner to Palmieri, who comes into the slot with no one around him and rips one past Merzlikins to make it 2-0.
2nd Period:
(5:31 — CBJ Goal): The Blue Jackets get on the board with a sensational snipe from Fantilli. It starts with a crisp pass from Dante Fabbro through some traffic that finds Fantilli near center ice. He skates into the zone and sees two New York defenders between him and goaltender Ilya Sorokin, opting to quickly fire a snap shot on net. It gets past Sorokin, cutting the Isles lead to 2-1. Merzlikins gets the secondary assist on the goal for his first point of the season.
Here's Fantilli's 22nd of the season and one of the nastier shots of his young career. Down 2-0, the #CBJ really needed it.
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) March 25, 2025
Elvis Merzlikins gets the secondary assist for his first point since Feb. 28, 2023. pic.twitter.com/qZWBS8le9f
(17:13 — CBJ Goal): Jenner's short-handed goal ties the game at 2-2. The Islanders win the faceoff in Columbus' zone to start their power play, but Monahan gets the puck less than 10 seconds in and flips it up the ice to Jenner. He enters the New York zone with a one-on-one against defenseman Noah Dobson and fires from a distance. It takes a wild bounce off Dobson, gets past Sorokin, bounces off the post and goes in to tie the game.
Islanders are up 3-2 after two. #CBJ entered the second down 2-0 and tied it on this Boone Jenner short-handed goal, but the Isles get deflection goal in the final minute to regain the lead.pic.twitter.com/yNryKaK1TG
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) March 25, 2025
(19:12 — NYI Goal): Lee regains the lead for the Islanders after he deflects one in from the doorstep in the final minute. The Blue Jackets challenge this for goaltender interference and it's close, but the call stands and the Islanders take a 3-2 lead into the third period.
3rd Period:
(12:54 — CBJ Goal): Marchenko ties the game with what might be his biggest goal of the season. Monahan wins the faceoff in the Isles zone, Marchenko takes it and gets backhands it to Provorov, who skates down the boards and then throws it in front of the net. It gets all the way through but goes right to Marchenko off the boards. He unloads through tons of traffic and it sees its way through all of it and into the net, tying the game at 3-3.
Marchenko knots it at 3-3 on this goal that comes as part of a big-time third period effort by the #CBJ. pic.twitter.com/kwxTIWRIxN
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) March 25, 2025
(19:51 — NYI Goal Waved Off): With less than ten seconds left, the Islanders appear to have scored what would almost certainly be a game-winning goal — but it's waved off immediately by the officials for goaltender interference and sent to the league for an official review. Replay doesn't show much, but in what looked to be a surprise to both sides, the call on the ice was upheld: no goal, keeping the game at 3-3.
THE ISLANDERS SCORE WITH LESS THAN 10 SECONDS TO GO... but wait
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 25, 2025
The play is under review. pic.twitter.com/rhLSuzkGRg
Overtime + Shootout:
(1:48 — Magnificent Merzlikins Save): The save of the overtime period, no doubt about it. This leaping save from Merzlikins keeps the game going when it looked to be over.
Fantilli's shootout shot was cool, but it doesn't happen without this 10/10, A+ save from Elvis Merzlikins in overtime. #CBJ get two points because of this:pic.twitter.com/eXMioxjeI5
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) March 25, 2025
(Shootout): There is but one goal in the shootout and it's this one from Fantilli, a backhander from just outside the crease that lodges in the net.
What a shootout goal by Adam Fantilli! pic.twitter.com/N0CdpMRiAr
— SleeperNHL (@SleeperNHL) March 25, 2025
| CBJ | GAME STATS | NYI |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | SHOTS | 33 |
| 55% | FACEOFFS | 45% |
| 0/1 | POWER PLAY | 0/3 |
| 3/3 | PENALTY KILL | 1/1 |
| 34 | HITS | 19 |
| 10 | GIVEAWAYS | 10 |
| 1 | TAKEAWAYS | 2 |
| 17 | BLOCKED SHOTS | 18 |
| ALL SITUATIONS ADVANCED STATS | ||
| 2.84 | EXPECTED GOALS | 3.11 |
| 70 | SHOT ATTEMPTS | 63 |
| 29 | SCORING CHANCES | 27 |
| 10 | HIGH-DANGER CHANCES | 10 |
| Data via NHL.com & NaturalStatTrick.com | ||
Stat Chat:
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The Blue Jackets found their physicality against the Islanders, racking up 34 hits. Monahan and Erik Gudbranson had three a piece in their first games back, while Mathieu Olivier led all players with seven.
-
Jenner won seven of eight faceoffs for the Blue Jackets and helped lead Columbus to winning 55% of the draws for the game. Entering the day, the Islanders ranked #1 in the NHL in faceoff percentage, at 54.7%.
- The sense of urgency was certainly there for Columbus and got stronger as the game went on. They had just 33% of shot attempts in the first period, cranked it up to 54% in the second and had 73% (29 of 40) in the final period.
Up Next:
Columbus has three days off before returning to Nationwide Arena on Friday night to face the Vancouver Canucks. Puck-drop is 7 p.m. for what will certainly be a packed house in another big game.
