PREVIEW: Blue Jackets get back to action by hosting Islanders

The Blue Jackets still have work to do to get back into the Eastern Conference playoff race, but they delivered themselves a mighty nice Christmas present when they last played Monday at Los Angeles.

Columbus finished the pre-holiday schedule with a 3-1 victory against the Kings, earning two much-needed points going into an uncharacteristically long five-day break. They went their separate ways with smiles on their faces not just because they earned two points but the way they played.

Even with standout defenseman Zach Werenski out of the lineup, the Blue Jackets turned in one of their best defensive performances of the season, limiting the Kings to 24 shots on goal despite five LA power plays and capitalizing on three of their own man advantage chances to get the victory.

That's the style of game head coach Dean Evason hopes the Blue Jackets can adhere to when they get back to action tonight vs. the Islanders.

"Obviously it was good for us to have a good taste in our mouth (going into the break),” Evason said. “We thought we played extremely well, not just because we got the win, it's how we played. Obviously we didn't do a lot today video-wise, but we'll reinforce tomorrow how we played that game. You look at the Anaheim game, we likely should have had a better result there too.

“So I think, I know that we feel good about how we’re playing if we play like that. And for the most part, we have. But yeah, to go through the break and feel good about how we played and to get rewarded with two points, hopefully we’ll carry (that) through here.”

Two of those power-play goals were scored by new acquisition Mason Marchment in the first period, allowing Columbus to play with a lead throughout, and the Blue Jackets were able to cross the finish line thanks to good defensive structure and a few timely saves from Jet Greaves.

“That was a great team game,” Marchment said. “Everyone was involved, and we were making the right plays at the right time, not turning the puck over at the blue line and stuff like that. That was fun to be a part of, and hopefully we can build off that.”

The Blue Jackets will have to see how they line up against the Islanders after a Saturday practice that featured some good news and bad on the injury front. Werenski did not practice as Evason said he was being evaluated by team doctors, and the head coach said it was “doubtful” he’d be ready to play against the Islanders with a lower-body injury.

Mathieu Olivier, who has been out since Nov. 24 with an upper body injury, went through a full practice and said he was “ready to roll” as long as he gets the green light from the doctors. But about 10 minutes into practice, center Isac Lundeström caught a rut in the ice and went down in pain, and he had to be helped from the ice with what appeared to be a lower body injury. His status remains unclear for tonight’s game against the Islanders, who are coming off a 2-0 win Saturday night vs. the rival New York Rangers.

Scratches: F Zach Aston-Reese, F Yegor Chinakhov, F Isac Lundeström, D Zach Werenski (lower body injury)

Injured reserve/Non-Roster: F Mathieu Olivier (upper body injury), D Erik Gudbranson (upper body injury)

Roster Report: The Blue Jackets got mixed injury news Saturday, as it appears Olivier could return – though he would need to be activated from IR today – while Werenski and Lundeström could be out with lower body injuries.

This Day in CBJ History

Dec. 28, 2005: Marc Denis notches his 12th and final shutout in a Blue Jackets uniform, making 40 saves in a 1-0 victory against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Nationwide Arena. Jason Chimera scores the winner with 3:07 to play in just the second 1-0 victory in team history.

Dec. 28, 2009: Steve Mason stops 34 shots and Fredrik Modin scores in 3:12 into overtime as the Blue Jackets take the first 1-0 OT victory in franchise history against Detroit in Nationwide Arena. Earlier in the day, the Blue Jackets acquire forward Chris Clark and defenseman Milan Jurcina from Washington for Chimera.

The Numbers Game

Mason Marchment is the first player in franchise history to score three goals in his first two games with the Blue Jackets. No player in team history has scored in their first three games with the squad. ... With three power-play goals Monday vs. Los Angeles, the Blue Jackets have 10 man advantage goals in the last 11 games (29.4 percent) and have moved up into a tie for 12th in the NHL in power-play percentage (20.7). ... Blue Jackets defensemen have scored 28 goals this season, one behind Washington for the most in the NHL. … Denton Mateychuk played a career-high 28:35 against the Kings and had an assist. ... Adam Fantilli has scored 36 goals in 2025, fourth most ever by a CBJ player in a calendar year behind just Rick Nash (43 in 2009, and 39 in 2006) and Cam Atkinson (42 in 2018). ... Kent Johnson has five assists in the last six games. ... Miles Wood is one goal away from 100 in his NHL career. ... Zach Werenski is three assists shy of becoming the first CBJ player to notch 300 career helpers, while Jenner is two points away from becoming the fourth player in team history with 400 points after Nash (547), Werenski (424) and Atkinson (402). ... With a goal in his last game last Saturday, Werenski became just the second CBJ defenseman to post five tallies in a three-game span – he was the first in 2019-20 – and the first NHL blueliner to do so since Erik Karlsson with San Jose in 2022. ... He is second among NHL defensemen in goals (14) and points (40), first in shots on goal (132), second in average ice time (26:48) and is first in multipoint games (14). He has points in 16 of the last 19 games (10-19-29, tied for fourth in NHL in that span) and a 5-11-16 line in December to sit one shy of tying his own CBJ record for points in a month by a defenseman (17 in January 2025). In addition, Werenski has an 11-game home point streak (7-13-20).

Know The Foe: New York Islanders

Head coach: Patrick Roy (Third season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.79 (23rd) | Scoring defense: 2.63 (6th) | PP: 15.7 percent (27th) | PK: 82.1 percent (T-10th)

The narrative: The Islanders built an identity as perhaps being the hardest team to play against in the NHL and made the playoffs five of six years from 2019-24 before placing sixth in the Metropolitan Division a season ago. There were big changes in the front office as former Blue Jacket Mathieu Darche replaced Lou Lamoriello as general manager, and the Islanders started to build for the future by making three first-round draft picks including No. 1 overall choice Matthew Schaefer. Schaefer’s impressive rookie season has helped lead the Islanders into a playoff spot as we near the halfway point.

Scoring leaders: Center Bo Horvat missed time before the break with a lower body injury but returned Saturday against the Rangers, and he leads the team with a 19-12-31 line while winning 57.8 percent of his faceoffs. Now in his 10th season with the Isles, Mat Barzal has come back from an injury-plagued 2024-25 to post a 10-19-29 line, while Schaefer has blown past all projections to score nine goals among 24 points, placing fifth among NHL defensemen in goals and third among all rookies in points. Captain Anders Lee adds a 10-15-25 line while Emil Heineman has 12 goals.

In net: Coming off four consecutive top-10 finishes in the Vezina voting, Ilya Sorokin has posted a .928 save percentage in December, but he was placed on injured reserve Saturday. David Rittich has proved to be a shrewd pickup to serve as the No. 2, as the veteran Czech netminder is 9-3-2 with a 2.25 GAA and .919 SV% and shut out the Rangers on Saturday. Marcus Högberg was called up with Sorokin hitting IR.

What's new: The Islanders are 8-3-1 in December are one of the surprises of the NHL this season, though they have just nine goals in the last five games as injuries to such players as Horvat, Kyle Palmieri and Alexander Romanov have added up. The addition of Schaefer – as well as fellow first-rounders Victor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson at Nos. 16 and 17 overall, respectively – is a boon to the Islanders future, especially considering New York has one of the older rosters in the league. The offseason trade of defenseman Noah Dobson was one of the bigger moves in the NHL this summer, and Heineman has been a solid addition thus far.

Trending: Columbus dropped the first game of the season series by a 3-2 score Nov. 2 on Long Island. The Blue Jackets won both games in Nationwide Arena a season ago, a 2-0 final Oct. 30 and a 6-1 romp in the season finale.

Former CBJ: Forward Anthony Duclair has played in all but one game, posting four goals among 12 points, while defenseman Adam Boqvist has played in 12 contests with an assist.