COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS NOTES:
OhioHEALTH INJURY REPORT
Tarasov (knee): Placed on Long-Term IR retroactive to Oct. 12 (27 games)
Roslovic (fractured ankle); Placed on IR (Nov. 13); 4-6 weeks (12 games)
Severson (oblique); Placed on IR Nov. 30 retroactive to Nov. 19; 6 weeks (8 games)
Sillinger (upper body); Placed on IR retroactive to Nov. 26; day-to-day (3 games)
Gudbranson (illness); day-to-day (1 game) Laine (illness); day-to-day (1 game)
Merzlikins (illness); Placed on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 5; expected to miss a week
Boqvist (shoulder strain); Placed on Injured Reserve retroactive to Dec. 5; 4 weeks
TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 73
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Dec. 6 Placed Boqvist (shoulder strain; retroactive to Dec. 5), Merzlikins (illness; retroactive to Dec. 5), Sillinger (upper body; retroactive to Nov. 26) on Injured Reserve, recalled Blankenburg (emergency), Bemstrom and Greaves (emergency) from Cleveland (AHL) and converted Tarasov’s LTI conditioning assignment to a regular conditioning assignment.
Dec. 6 Traded Robinson to Buffalo in exchange for conditional 2025 seventh round pick (orig. Nashville’s)
AGAINST THE ISLANDERS
2023-24 Series: 0-1-0 (0-0-0 at NYI)
2022-23 Series: 1-2-1 (0-1-1 at NYI)
All-Time Series: 24-19-1-7 (8-13-0-3 at NYI)
Last 10 (Overall | Road): 3-6-1 | 2-7-1
All-Time GF/GA: 146/143
All-Time SF/SA: 1,665/1,588
All-Time PP: 39-of-172
All-Time PK: 119-of-142
THE LAST GAME VS. NYI: OCT. 28, 2023 – CBJ 0 vs. NYI 2
CBJ Goal Scorers: NYI Goal Scorers: Palmieri (3), Martin (1)
Goalies: CBJ – Martin (31/33; 57:08); NYI – Varlamov (34/34; 60:00)
CBJ PP: 0/3; PK: 3/3 | Shots: CBJ: 34 / NYI: 33
Noteworthy: NYI scored 15:45 into the 1st and with 3:21 remaining for the win… Roslovic led the club in shots (5)… Jenner, Kuraly and Olivier led the team in hits with 2 each (9 total as a club)… Gudbranson led the club in blocked shots with 3 (15 total as a team)… Werenski led the team in TOI (24:24).
NOTED (Team Highlights vs. NYI)
NYI have won 7 of the last 8 contests in the series (CBJ; 1-6-1)… Four of the last 5 games and 8 of the past 12 meetings have been decided by a single goal… Winning team has scored 2 goals or less in 2 of the past 3 meetings… CBJ have converted on 5-of-15 power play opportunities over the last 5 games in the series (33.3 pct.)… CBJ have killed off 27-of-33 NYI power play attempts over last 16 games (81.8 pct.)… NYI have posted 8 of the 12 shutouts in the all-time series, including the most recent occurrence in the last meeting on 10/28/23 at CBJ… NYI has recorded all 3 hat tricks in the all-time series with the most recent recorded by Anders Lee in a 6-0 Isles win at NYI last season on 3/10/22.. Most goals scored at NYI: 7 (12/23/00)… Most goals allowed at NYI: 6 – 2x (MR: 3/10/22).
NOTED (Player Highlights vs. NYI)
Gudbranson made his NHL debut on 10/8/11 at NYI… Jenner notched his 200th career NHL point (goal) on 10/19/19 vs. NYI… Kuraly skated in his 20tth career NHL game on 1/11/20 at NYI… Laine skated in his 400th career NHL game on 3/31/22 at NYI… Peeke skated in his 100th career NHL game on 3/29/22 vs. NYI… Provorov notched his 200th career NHL point (assist) on 11/26/22 at NYI… Severson skated in his 300th career NHL game on 11/23/18 vs. NYI… Sillinger notched his 1st career NHL goal on 10/21/21 vs. NYI.
SCORING NOTABLES vs. NYI
• Bean – 0-3-3 in 6 career GP, with assists in each of his last 2 road games (0-3-3)
• Chinkahov – 1-2-3 in 6 career GP, scoring points in each of his last 3 contests against New York (1-2-3) and assists in each of his past 2 at the Islanders (0-2-2)
• Gaudreau – 5-12-17 in 16 career GP, recording at least a point in 11 of his last 13 appearances against the club (4-12-16; 5 multi-point games)
A LOOK AT DECEMBER
The Blue Jackets have picked up points in five of the last eight games overall (4-3-1) following a 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings on Tuesday. The team plays its fifth of 13 back-to-back sets this season on Thursday at the NY Islanders and Friday vs. the St. Louis Blues. It’s one of two back-to-backs in the month of December (Dec. 29 vs. Toronto and Dec. 30 at Buffalo). Columbus is in a stretch of nine games in 15 days from Nov. 16-Dec.10. The team is also in a stretch of nine-of-13 games played at home from Nov. 27-Dec. 23. The four road games are all one-game trips (Dec. 3 at Boston, Dec. 7 at NY Islanders, Dec. 14 at Toronto and Dec. 19 at Buffalo). Sunday’s game at Boston kicked off a stretch of playing a team from each division over a span of six days this week. The club also faces Los Angeles (Pacific) on Tuesday, at the NY Islanders (Metropolitan) on Thursday and vs. St. Louis (Central) on Friday.
JACKETS ON THE KILL
The Blue Jackets denied the Kings on both of their power play chances on Tuesday and have now killed off all opponent power plays in 16 of the past 20 games, killing off 48-of-53 opponent power play chances since Oct. 28 (94.1 pct.). CBJ had also killed off all 22 opponent power play opportunities over nine contests from Oct. 28-Nov.14 with the nine games without allowing a power play goal tied for the second-longest stretch in franchise history (Feb. 21-Mar. 9, 2013) and trailing only the 11 games from Dec. 31, 2018-Jan. 29, 2019. The club ranks fourth-T in the NHL (Vegas) in penalty kill percentage this season at 87.2 pct. (68-of-78) and lead the league in penalty kill percentage since Oct. 20, killing off 60-of-67 opponent power play chances over the last 24 games (89.6 pct.).
BLOCK IT LIKE IT’S HOT
CBJ have been credited with 298 blocked shots over the past 16 games dating back to Nov. 6. The club ranks second-T in the NHL in blocked shots (507) and third in blocked shots-per-60 minutes (18.58). Defenseman Erik Gudbranson, who missed Tuesday’s game due to illness, leads the team and ranks seventh-T in the league in blocked shots in 2023-24 with 64.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS NOTES:
RECENT TRANSACTIONS & UPDATES
Dec. 4 Mathew Barzal has been named the NHL’s “Second Star” for the Week ending on December 3, 2023.
INJURIES DATE (GAMES MISSED)
Sebastian Aho Nov. 25 (Five)
Mathew Barzal Dec. 2 (One)
Bo Horvat Nov. 7 (One)
Matt Martin Nov. 16 (Nine)
Scott Mayfield Oct. 17 – 30 (Seven)
Adam Pelech Nov. 4, Nov. 9 – Nov. 11, Nov. 25 (Eight)
2023-24 Man Games Lost: 30
THE ISLANDERS VS. COLUMBUS
LAST FIVE MEETINGS (4-0-1)
Oct. 28, 2023 Nationwide Arena W, 2-0
Mar. 24, 2023 Nationwide Arena L/OT, 5-4
Dec. 29, 2022 UBS Arena W, 2-1
Nov. 25, 2022 Nationwide Arena W, 3-2
Nov. 12, 2022 UBS Arena W/OT, 4-3
TEAM NOTES
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
Tonight, the New York Islanders host the Columbus Blue Jackets in the second of three meetings between the two clubs this season. The last time these teams met was Oct. 28, when Kyle Palmieri and Matt Martin each scored to help the Islanders earn a 2-0 shutout win in Columbus. The Islanders have earned points in their last nine consecutive meetings against the Blue Jackets since Oct. 21, 2021 (7-0-2). They have also earned points in three of their last four meetings against Metropolitan Division opponents and in nine of their last 10 games (5-1-4). The Islanders continue their longest home stand of the season tonight, as they play six straight games at UBS Arena from Dec. 5 – 15. They enter tonight’s matchup with a 5-1-2 record in their last eight games.
PENALTY KILL
The Islanders are seven-for-seven on the penalty kill in their last three games and have not allowed a power play goal since Nov. 28 in New Jersey. Their penalty kill is 17-for-19 in their last eight games (89.5%), fifth in the NHL on the penalty kill since Nov. 18.
POWER PLAY
The Islanders have converted on the power play in their last four straight contests. Tuesday against the Sharks, the Islanders scored twice on the power play for the third time this season, matching their season-high. The Islanders are 11-for-29 on the power play since Nov. 15 (37.9%), leading the NHL in that span. Islanders forward Brock Nelson recorded his third power play goal of the season Tuesday night, tying Bo Horvat and Kyle Palmieri for the team-lead. The Islanders’ second PPG was spotted by Ryan Pulock. It was Pulock’s second goal of the season and first on the man-advantage since Mar. 18, 2023 (also against San Jose). Overall, the Islanders enter tonight’s matchup with a 25.4% success rate on the power play through 24 games this season. It is good for seventh in the league and fourth in the Eastern Conference.
ASSISTS
The Islanders are 5-0-0 when forward Brock Nelson records an assist this season (6-1-5 when he records a point). Nelson tallied his second multi-assist game of the season on Saturday night in Florida, including an assist on Anders Lee’s power play goal to open the score. He has two multi-assist games in his last six contests.
