New York Islanders @ Columbus Blue Jackets: Season 25 2/28/26

 Buckle up, 5th Line, because this first home game after the 2026 Winter Olympic break was a roller-coaster! Period 1 would go in favor of our Blue Jackets, both on the scoreboard and shots on goal. The opening period would conclude with a 1-0 Blue Jackets lead after Isac Lundestrom scored goal number three of his season at 2:30. Dante Fabro comes away with the primary assist, giving him five this season, while Miles Wood adds his sixth assist this season with the secondary. The Blue Jackets would also dominate shots on goal, 11-4. But then Period 2 would happen, and things would get... interesting. 

The Blue Jackets would score early in Period 2, just like Period 1, as Mason Marchment popped his fourteenth goal this season into the Islanders' net at 3:58! Charlie Coyle gets his twenty-eighth assist this season with the primary, and Zach Werenski continues to tally up bit numbers with his forty-fourth assist on the secondary. Bonus: With his two goals and ten assists in his last nine straight games, Zach Werenski now etches his name into the Columbus Blue Jackets history books again as the defensive player with the longest point streak! Unfortunately, after this goal, which gave the Blue Jackets a two-goal lead, things would get a bit nauseating. First, at 11:37, Anders Lee would get goal thirteen of his season after the puck played pinball and got past Jet Greaves. Scott Mayfield adds assist number eight to his season with the primary, while Jean-Gabriel Pageau adds his thirteenth assist this season with the secondary. Seconds later, at 11:59, the Islanders would find their tying goal from Jean-Gabriel Pageau. This goal, which had no assists, would mark his fourteenth this season. Due to how this second goal was scored, Rick Bowness would elect to challenge the goal for goaltender interference. The video review would take little time, and you know what that means: The goal stood! The result would keep us tied at 2-2 and also give the Islanders a power play, as we received a bench minor for delaying the game after a failed challenge. The time of the penalty was 11:59, and the Blue Jackets would nearly kill it off. But then Captain Boone Jenner would get sent to the box for tripping Islanders' Emil Heineman at 13:53.  The highlight of this period for the Blue Jackets was killing off the few seconds of 5 on 3, then killing off the 5 on 4 after. That said, the Islanders wouldn't be phased, acquiring their first lead of the night at 17:10, following Scott Mayfield's second goal this season. Mathew Barzal gets the only assist on this goal, giving him thirty-eight this season. Thankfully, Zach Werenski would do the voodoo that he do-do so good, and pass the puck to Adam Fantilli at 18:58, tying this game at 3-3! This would become the fifteenth goal this season for Adam Fantilli, and Zach Werenski gets his forty-fifth assist this season, with the only one on his goal. As I said, roller-coaster! An eventful second period would end with that 3-3 tie, while the Blue Jackets would lead shots on goal for the second period in a row, 16-11. 

The third period would heavily favor the Islanders with shots on goal, 10-3. That said, none of those shots would result in a goal. So, we'd head to extra hockey with each team gaining a point, and fighting for the second. 

It would take less than two minutes for this game to be decided. Simon Holmstrom ends the game at 1:48 with goal number fourteen of his season. Tony DeAngelo adds his twenty-second assist with the primary, and Mathew Barzal gets his second assist tonight, thirty-seventh this season on the secondary. The Islanders would have the last say, winning 4-3, and having the only shot on goal in the overtime period. 

Scott Mayfield is awarded the Third Star of the Game after a goal and an assist tonight. 

Zach Werenski is awarded the Second Star of the Game with his two assists tonight. 

Simon Holmstrom, after getting the Islanders the second point tonight, is awarded the First Star of the Game tonight.  

Our Blue Jackets will now travel to play the other New York team on Monday night. We'll face a struggling New York Rangers team that pulled off a 3-2 overtime victory earlier this afternoon at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The puck will drop in Madison Square Garden at 7:00 p.m. 

Go CBJ!   


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