With five wins in their last six games, the Islanders are one of the hottest teams in the NHL. One of the few that's equally as hot: the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Blue Jackets have won five straight games and used a 7-1-2 stretch to climb up the Metropolitan Division standings.
"Columbus, they work and they play hard," Capuano said on Thursday. "They've bought right into what [Coach] John [Tortorella] trying to do. They shoot pucks - they had 60 shots the other night - their power play is red hot. For us it's just game by game and shift by shift."
The Islanders owned the Blue Jackets last year, winning all five meetings and are 7-0-2 in their last nine head-to-head matchups.
But this is a different Blue Jackets team this season. Columbus is top-four in goals-per-game (3.20), third in goals allowed (2.12), have the league's best power play (24.6%). Last season, the Blue Jackets were 18th in goals-per-game (2.60), 29th in goals against per game (3.02) and 21st on the power play (17.3).
Sergei Bobrovsky and Nick Foligno are both enjoying bounce-back seasons and are part of the Blue Jackets turnaround. Bobrovsky has 15 wins - tied for most in the NHL - in 22 games this season, equaling his total from 37 games last seasons and is playing with a 1.98 goals-against average. Foligno is nearly scoring a point-per-game with 22 points (10G, 12A) in 24 games, though the Blue Jackets' captain missed Friday's win over Detroit. Cam Atkinson leads Columbus with 25 points (9G, 16A) in 25 games.
