PREVIEW: Blue Jackets look to keep finishing strong vs. Isles

The Blue Jackets may have suffered through a winless give-game road trip late in March, but they’ve proved since they came home that they’re not going to quietly into the offseason.

Back-to-back wins over Pittsburgh and Colorado have put some smiles on the faces of the Blue Jackets around Nationwide Arena, a much-needed jolt of energy after the struggles away from home.

“It feels really good for the team,” Alex Nylander said after the 4-1 win Monday vs. Colorado. “We had a tough road trip there, and now we’re bouncing back and we played some really good games. That’s huge for our team to get confidence and get ready for the next game here.”

Tonight’s game against the Islanders provides what has been a unique opportunity for the Jackets, who are yet to win three games in a row all season.

But that statistic is not a tremendous focus at the moment, as the Blue Jackets have their eyes simply on continuing to play the right way down the stretch. Columbus has done just that in each of its last three games, one a close loss at Pittsburgh before the two wins over the Pens and Avs.

“We keep reinforcing winning habits and what needs to be done to consistently to win a hockey game in the National Hockey League,” head coach Pascal Vincent said. “The last two games, we saw a team that is executing those habits.”

While it’s been a disappointing season for the Blue Jackets, finishing strong is a key, defenseman Erik Gudbranson said.

“We just want to leave with some momentum,” Gudbranson said. “It’s been a very difficult year, so taking some positive momentum into the year and just giving ourselves that light at the end of the tunnel where, ‘Hey, we can do this.’”

Know The Foe: New York Islanders

Head coach: Patrick Roy (First season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.95 (23rd) | Scoring defense: 3.27 (23rd) | PP: 20.3 percent (19th) | PK: 72.1 percent (32nd)

The narrative: The Islanders are in a furious push to make the playoffs, going into tonight’s game sitting one point behind the last wild card spot with seven games to play. The team made a coaching change midseason, letting Lane Lambert go in favor of Roy, though the points percentages between the two (.544 under Lambert, .533 under Roy) are mostly similar. Known for their shutdown defense the past two seasons, the Islanders have fallen in the league rankings in that regard, in part because of the league’s worst penalty kill.

Team leaders: Mathew Barzal continues to be the straw that stirs the drink with the squad, leading the way with a team-best mark of 76 points (23 goals, 53 assists) in 74 games. 24-year-old defenseman Noah Dobson has had a breakout season, as the 2018 first-round pick’s 8-58-64 line puts him fifth among leauge blueliners in assists and seventh in points. Bo Horvat (31-34-65) and Brock Nelson (30-31-61) are 30-goal scorers and Kyle Palmieri adds 24 goals among his 44 points.

In net, Ilya Sorokin has been the team’s No. 1, starting 52 games and going 23-19-11 with a 3.04 goals-against average and .907 save percentage. Veteran Semyon Varlamov (10-8-4, 2.84, .912) is the backup and has won both of his starts this year vs. Columbus.

What's new: A six-game losing skid in March put the Islanders’ playoff hopes on life support, but the team has won four of six since then including huge wins Monday at Philadelphia and Tuesday vs. Chicago. Defense has been the biggest improvement in recent games, as the squad has allowed 17 goals in the last six games (2.83 per game) after ceding 26 (4.33 per game) during the 0-5-1 run in March.

Trending: The Isles have won both games of the series this year, capturing a 2-0 final Oct. 28 in Nationwide Arena and then pulling away to a 7-3 win on Long Island on Dec. 7. That continues a tough stretch for the Jackets, who are just 4-11-2 against the Islanders since the start of the 2018-19 season.

Former CBJ: None

Roster Report

Projected Lineup (subject to change)

Johnny Gaudreau – Dmitri Voronkov – Alex Nylander
Alexandre Texier – Cole Sillinger – Kirill Marchenko
Mikael Pyyhtia – Brendan Gaunce – Mathieu Olivier
James Malatesta – Justin Danforth – Carson Meyer
Zach Werenski – Damon Severson
Ivan Provorov – Erik Gudbranson
Jake Bean – David Jiricek
Daniil Tarasov
Jet Greaves

Scratches: Adam Fantilli (calf laceration), Sean Kuraly (lower-body injury, has returned to skating), Yegor Chinakhov (upper-body injury, day to day), Adam Boqvist (upper body, out indefinitely), Boone Jenner (day to day), Elvis Merzlikins (lower body, day to day), Trey Fix-Wolansky

Injured reserve: Kent Johnson (torn labrum in left shoulder, out for season)

Roster Report: Jiricek will go in for Jake Christiansen, who was sent back to Cleveland on Tuesday. Fix-Wolansky was recalled because a number of players are under the weather, so Pascal Vincent is unsure of what the lineup will be. Tarasov gets the start in net. 

3 Stats to Know

• Daniil Tarasov has posted a .935 save percentage in his last 12 appearances, good for first in the NHL since Feb. 21 among goalies with at least 10 appearances. He has made at least 35 saves in seven of those 12 games including 45 saves in the win Monday vs. Colorado.
• Alex Nylander’s 10 goals since making his Blue Jackets debut Feb. 23 are a franchise record for a player in his first 17 games with the squad. He has three multigoal contests in that time span.
• Milestone watch: Johnny Gaudreau is three assists from 500 for his NHL career (242-497-739, 757 GP). ... Werenski is seven points from 300 for his NHL career (86-207-293, 478 GP). ... Jake Bean is four games from 200 for his NHL career (13-43-56, 196 GP).

Who’s Hot

Cole Sillinger has a 3-1-4 line in the last three games and topped 20 minutes played in each of the past two games for the first time in his CBJ career. ... Mathieu Olivier has goals in two of the last three games. ... Zach Werenski has a 3-7-10 line in the last 10 games, and his six goals since Feb. 17 are tied for third among NHL defensemen. Werenski has tied a career high with 48 points on the season, good for third in franchise history among defensemen. His career-high 41 assists tie Seth Jones (2017-18) for the second most in a season in team history (James Wisniewski, 44, 2023-14). ... Johnny Gaudreau has a 4-23-27 line in the last 28 games and has reached the 40-assist plateau for the second straight season. He has posted two 40-assist seasons in his two campaigns in Columbus, joining Ray Whitney, David Vyborny and Artemi Panarin as the only players with multiple such seasons with the Jackets. ... Dmitri Voronkov has 17 goals on the year, tied for fourth among NHL first-year players and tied for third all-time in CBJ history among rookies (Rick Nash, 2002-03). ... The team’s rookie stat line of 30-38-68 is tied for first in the NHL in goals and fourth in points.

This Day in CBJ History

April 4, 2003: During the third period vs. Detroit, Marc Denis breaks the NHL single-season record for minutes played by a goaltender (4,433 by New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur in 1995-96). He finishes the season with a new standard of 4,511 minutes.

April 4, 2015: Fueled by a Nick Foligno hat trick, Columbus posts a then-franchise record ninth straight win, beating Pittsburgh 5-3 at Nationwide Arena.

April 4, 2023: Greater Toronto Area native Jet Greaves makes his debut in net, stopping 46 shots – a CBJ record for a goalie in his NHL debut – in a 4-2 loss at the Maple Leafs.