3 Takeaways: Blue Jackets 4, Islanders 1

The New York Islanders suffered their second loss in as many games, falling to the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.
John Tavares opened the scoring with a power-play goal - and his 600th career NHL points - in the first period, but the Blue Jackets responded with four straight goals and put up 51 shots on the Islanders.
Pierre-Luc Dubois' power-play goal at 19:03 of the second period held up as the eventual winner while a pair of goals 43 seconds apart from Brandon Dubinsky and Cam Atkinson in the third period turned a 2-1 game into the 4-1 final.
Here are three takeaways from Tuesday's game:

1. ISLANDERS GIVE UP 51 SHOTS:

For the second straight meeting, the Columbus Blue Jackets shot from anywhere and everywhere against the Islanders.
Twenty-six of Columbus' 51 shots came in the first period, which was the same number of first-period shots the Blue Jackets put on Jaroslav Halak in the teams' meeting 10 days previous. The Islanders finished the game with 30 shots.
"I think what happens with teams, they see you're giving up a lot of shots and they just tell you to keep peppering them, shoot shoot shoot," Head Coach Doug Weight said. "A lot were from the outside, but the point is there are 50 shots. The guys see it, it kind of wears on you, so you gotta try to first of all, limit the shots, but you can't run at people outside the blue line, or wide, those are saves that we have to have, and we'll get."
While Tuesday marked the third time this season the Islanders had allowed 50 shots, it wasn't the early barrage that did the Islanders in. Halak turned aside all 26 in the first period and the Blue Jackets managed 25 over the next two.

BOXSCORE - PHOTO GALLERY

The difference wound up being Columbus' 31st-ranked power play, which went 2-for-4 on the night. Oliver Bjorkstrand beat a screened Halak at 6:02 of the second to tie the game, while Dubois beat the Isles goalie short side for the winner at 19:03.
Even then the Islanders still had chances to get back into the game. Anthony Beauvillier was robbed by Sergei Bobrovsky on a cross-ice pass early in the third period in what would have been the tying goal.
Shortly after, Columbus pulled away with a two quick strikes, as Dubinsky cut to the net and jammed in a rebound to make it 3-1 at 6:01, while Atkinson finished a two-on-one with Artemi Panarin at 6:44.
"Everyone wants to make a story out of [the shots] but at the end of the day it was a 1-1 hockey game with a couple minutes left in the second period," Cal Clutterbuck said. "They scored on the power play and then they scored on a couple broken days in the third period."

2. STANDINGS IMPLICATIONS:

The Islanders and Blue Jackets came into Tuesday's game tied with 60 points apiece, one back of the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card.
Losing the head-to-head matchup will cost the Islanders in the standings, as Columbus (62 points) pulls ahead by two points, while still holding two games in hand over the Isles. The Hurricanes (63 points) also won Tuesday, extending their point lead over the Islanders.
"It's a tough loss. These games they are really important for our team. Every point counts and can make a difference at the end of the season," Halak said. "We just need to regroup again and try to have a better effort on Thursday."
The Islanders have two more games against divisional opponents this week, taking on the New York Rangers (59 points) on Thursday and the Hurricanes on Friday.

3. TAVARES SCORES 600TH POINT:

John Tavares hit a career milestone on Tuesday, as he scored his 600th career NHL point.
Tavares, who jammed an Anders Lee rebound in for a power-play goal at 17:51 of the first period, now has 264 goals and 336 assists in 644 games as an Islander, becoming the sixth player in franchise history to eclipse 600 points. The Islanders' current captain joins Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin, Clark Gillies and Brent Sutter on the list and Tavares needs 10 points to tie Sutter for fifth in franchise scoring.
The goal was also Tavares' 29th of the season, tying Lee for the team lead and fourth in the NHL.

POSTGAME VIDEO: