Takeaways: The Islanders Drop 4-2 Decision to Blue Jackets

The New York Islanders fell 4-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the second half of a back-to-back set on Sunday.

Max Shabanov and Bo Horvat scored to take a 2-1 lead for the Islanders, but the Blue Jackets found three unanswered goals in the third period to complete the comeback. Kirill Marchenko (2G), Ivan Provorov and Cole Sillinger (EN) scored for Columbus.

Rittich played both games of a back-to-back set and stopped 31-of-34 shots faced. Jet Greaves made 24 saves in the win.

“That was on us,” Horvat said. “Rittich has done enough to keep us in a lot of hockey games, and we have to figure out a way to close that one out. Not good enough by us in the third period, those are two points we want to have back for sure.”

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Islanders. The Islanders played on short rest, while the Blue Jackets had five days between games, including the holiday break.

“We did a good job, pretty much the entire game, breaking out,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “Maybe in the third we [ran out of] gas. We played yesterday, they were waiting for us. At the end of the day, they had a push and scored that goal.”

TAKEAWAYS

- The Islanders let a 2-1 lead slip late in the third, allowing two goals in the span of 1:14 as Provorov got a shot through through traffic from the point at 16:41 mark, and Marchenko scored his second of the night with a backhander that squeaked past Rittich’s blocker to a 3-2 lead. The Islanders were hemmed in their own zone late in the third period when Columbus scored the equalizer and the go-ahead goal.

“They had a ton of pressure in the third and we couldn’t break the pressure,” Anders Lee said. “We were stuck in our zone too much and when you spend 30-40 seconds in your zone, you got to get off the ice because they’re coming right back at you. We weren’t able to turn the tide of that puck possession there.”

- Mason Marchment tripped Matthew Schaefer and Mathew Barzal had a physical response to defend his teammate. Barzal was ejected from the game after he was assessed a five-minute slashing penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct.

“Teams seem to be physical on Schaef, I like the response by Barzal.” Roy said postgame. “We’re never going to blame a teammate defending a teammate.”

- Horvat scored his team-leading 20^th goal of the season to take a 2-1 lead for the Islanders at the 13:24 mark of the second period. Ryan Pulock sent a well-timed pass to Horvat in center ice and swiftly rushed in alone and went bar down on Greaves. Horvat skated 21:25 and won 11-of-19 faceoffs in his second game back since a lower-body injury sidelined him for five games.

“He looks the same, he looks great,” Lee said of his teammate. “Bo’s got his legs, he’s playing the great hockey that he was before he went down for a little bit. It’s been great to have him back in our lineup and we can rely on him big time.”

• Duclair recorded a secondary assist in his return to the lineup after he sat on Saturday night as a healthy scratch.
• With a first period tally, Shabanov snapped a 16-game goalless drought when a shot from JG Pageau hit his knee and trickled past Greaves. The Russian winger has 11 points (4G, 7A) through 26 games this season.

NEXT GAME

The Islanders wrap their two-game road trip with a matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. Puck drop is set for 8:30 PM EST.