Game Preview: Islanders at Blue Jackets

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (33-21-5) AT COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (29-21-7) 

6:00 PM | NATIONWIDE ARENA 

WATCH/STREAM: MSGSN | GOTHAM SPORTS APP 

LISTEN: 88.7FM | 103.9FM | ISLANDERS + UBS ARENA APP 

The New York Islanders are looking for their fourth straight win as they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena.  

The Isles came back on multiple occasions to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in overtime last time out on Thursday, overcoming a 2-0 and 3-2 deficit. Jean Gabriel-Pageau scored his second overtime goal of the season in the win, while Matthew Schaefer (2G) and Anders Lee contributed tallies. Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves on 24 shots faced against the Canadiens.

PROJECTED LINES 

Below are the Islanders’ lines from Thursday’s game against the Canadiens. Check back on Saturday morning for any updates to the lineup. 

Ondrej Palat – Bo Horvat – Mathew Barzal
Jonathan Drouin– Cal Ritchie – Emil Heineman
Anders Lee – JG Pageau – Simon Holmstrom
Kyle MacLean – Casey Cizikas– Marc Gatcomb 

Matthew Schaefer – Ryan Pulock
Adam Pelech – Tony DeAngelo
Carson Soucy – Scott Mayfield 

Ilya Sorokin
David Rittich

SEN-SCHAEFER-NAL 

Matthew Schaefer scored twice in under a minute against the Canadiens, which tied the game at 2-2 and set a pair of records. With his 18th career goal, Schaefer passed Denis Potvin (17) for the most goals by an Islanders rookie defenseman and Phil Housley (17) for the most tallies by an 18-year-old defenseman. 

Schaefer has five goals in his last six outings and leads the Islanders in scoring over that stretch. He leads all rookie defensemen with 41 points (18G, 23A).

BIG GAMES, BIG NAMES, BIG GOALS 

Anders Lee scored the game-tying goal with the extra attacker in the final two minutes of Thursday’s contest. The Islanders lead the NHL with nine 6-on-5 goals and have won 66.7% of their one-goal games, which ranks sixth in the league this season.  

Lee skated in his 900th career game for the blue and orange. He is tied with Bobby Nystrom for the sixth most games played with the Islanders and will tie Brock Neslon (901) for fifth on Saturday when he lines up against Columbus. Casey Cizikas (955) is the other active player ahead of Lee.  

WORKING OVERTIME 

The Isles remained perfect in overtime (6-0) as they earned their second overtime victory in the last three contests on Thursday night. Their overtime heroics this season have come from Pageau (2 OTG), Schaefer (2 OTG), Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal. 

New York is the only team to be unbeaten in overtime across the NHL this season.

SEASON SERIES AND STANDINGS 

This is the third of four contests between the Islanders and the Blue Jackets this season. 

New York is 1-1-0 through the first two meetings in the 2025-26 campaign. The home team was victorious in both of those previous games. 

The Islanders sit third in the Metropolitan Division with 71 points, one point shy of the second place Pittsburgh Penguins (72 points), though the Pens have two games in-hand.   Columbus (65 points) is fifth in the Metro but has three fewer games played (57) than the fourth place Washington Capitals (67 points) and two fewer than the Islanders.  

BLUE JACKETS NOTES 

Columbus enters Saturday’s contest off a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins. Kirill Marchenko and Adam Fantilli were the Blue Jackets’ goalscorers in their first defeat dating back to Jan. 20.  

The Blue Jackets have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL since early January, victorious in 11 of their last 13 games. 

Columbus' Zach Werenski represented the United States of America and won a gold medal at The Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. He notched six points (1G, 5A), including the primary assist on the overtime game-winning goal against Canada in the gold medal game.  

Werenski enters Saturday’s contest on an eight-game point streak, with 11 points (2G, 9A) in that stretch. He leads the Blue Jackets in points (63) and assists (43) this season. He is tied with Marchenko for the most goals (20) this season. His 63 points rank second among defensemen in the NHL this season and only trail Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard (66). 

Marchenko’s game-opening goal on Thursday tied him with Werenski for the team lead this season. The 25-year-old has eclipsed 20 tallies in each of his four seasons in the NHL. He ranks second on the Blue Jackets with 47 points (20G, 27A) this year.  

Columbus’ penalty kill (77.2%) ranks 21st in the NHL this season, but spikes to ninth (81.5%) since the flip of the calendar year. 

The Blue Jackets power-play (19.6%) is middle of the pack (15th) this season, yet scoreless in the last three games.