Blue Jackets at Islanders preview

BLUE JACKETS (27-20-4) at ISLANDERS (25-22-5)
7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-O, NHL.TV

Columbus, which has lost five of its past seven games, will play for the second time in as many nights. The Blue Jackets lost 3-1 at home to the San Jose Sharks at Nationwide Arena on Friday.
New York has scored one goal in back-to-back losses since returning from the All-Star break, including a 5-0 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. The Islanders are last in the Metropolitan Division, three points behind the fourth-place Blue Jackets, who entered Saturday as the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson has one goal and two assists during a three-game point streak.
Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier was promoted to the top line at practice Friday. He has eight goals in the past 10 games.

They said it

"We have a great opportunity to put some distance between us [and the field], because we're playing so many divisional teams. If we get some wins against those guys, it really leapfrogs us a lot against them. We're not looking to go on a 20-game winning streak here, but we're just looking to play consistently good hockey, which will allow us to have those wins." -- Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno
"Every next game is the biggest of the year. We're three points back. You start getting sticky with teams around you. There's only so many playoff spots, so yeah, this is a pretty big game." -- Islanders coach Doug Weight

Blue Jackets projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Alexander Wennberg -- Cam Atkinson
Oliver Bjorkstrand -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Nick Foligno
Boone Jenner -- Brandon Dubinsky -- Josh Anderson
Matt Calvert -- Lukas Sedlak -- Jussi Jokinen
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Jack Johnson -- Markus Nutivaara
Dean Kukan -- David Savard
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joonas Korpisalo
Scratched:Scott Harrington, Cameron Gaunce
Injured:Ryan Murray (upper body), Sonny Milano (oblique)

Islanders projected lineup

Anthony Beauvillier -- John Tavares -- Josh Bailey
Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle
Andrew Ladd -- Brock Nelson -- Jason Chimera
Tanner Fritz -- Casey Cizikas -- Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy -- Scott Mayfield
Adam Pelech -- Dennis Seidenberg
Thomas Hickey -- Ryan Pulock
Jaroslav Halak
Thomas Greiss
Scratched:Ross Johnston, Alan Quine, Sebastian Aho
Injured:Nikolay Kulemin (upper body), Johnny Boychuk (lower body), Calvin de Haan (upper body)

Status report

Gaunce was recalled from Cleveland of the American Hockey League on Saturday. … Boychuk, who hasn't played since Dec. 27, participated at the morning skate but is not ready to return. "He wants to play. It's eating him up," Weight said. "But we've got to make sure he's ready."

Stat pack

The Blue Jackets haven't scored more than two goals in 11 of their past 12 games. ... The Islanders have been outscored 11-4 in two losses to the Blue Jackets this season.