The Islanders will be playing just their second road game
The Blue Jackets will face the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
The Jackets are coming off of a road loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night in overtime. They've collected points in the last four games, going 2-0-2. The CBJ have played five home games already on the season and are 2-2-1.
The Islanders meanwhile, have only played one road game so far, losing that game to the Buffalo Sabres on October 21st. The Isles beat the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night, snapping a three-game losing streak.
Three Keys
- Stay out of the box. The CBJ gives up an average of 3.5 powerplays a game. If they do that against the Isles, they're going to pay for it. The Islander PP is running at 15%, which is 20th in the league, but don't let that fool you. Guys like Barzal and Horvat will take full advantage if given the opportunity.
- Take advantage of your own powerplays. The Islanders PK is 19th in the league at 75%. The Jackets powerplay is at 20%, that's 15th in the league. Through 7 games, they've been given an average of 3.5 PPs a game, 25 in total. The total number is inflated by the seven powerplays they were given against the Ducks earlier this week. They need to start scoring more on the powerplay, guys like Johnny Gaudreau and Kirill Marchenko have to lead the way. What better way to get those two going, than to score a powerplay goal against the Isles.
- The Secondary scorers need to keep scoring. Justin Danforth, Emil Bemstrom, and Jack Roslovic have stepped up and provided the goal-scoring that the Jackets need. Boone Jenner does have 4 goals, but three of those were in a single game. Until the big dogs like Gaudreau, Marchenko, and Laine start scoring, the guys on the other lines need to continue putting pucks in the net.
Series History
- The Jackets have an all-time record of 24-18-8 against the Isles. They also boast a record of 16-5-5 inside Nationwide Arena.
- Columbus is 7-3-3 in the last 13 games at home.
- Each of the last 5 games in the series played in Columbus has been decided by 1 goal.
Who to watch for New York
- Noah Dobson is the Islanders leading scorer. He sits at 2 goals and 5 assists.
- Adam Pelech leads the team with 13 PIMs. At 6-feet-3 and 210 lbs, expect him to mix it up with Mathieu Olivier or Dimitri Voronkov.
- Ilya Sorokin got the start against the Senators on Thursday and has all but one start on the season. They play again on Monday, so we won't know who is in net until the Isles announce it. Either way, the Islanders will be starting a good goalie.
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on Bally Sports Ohio. As always, the legendary Jeff Rimer will be on the play-by-play with his partner Jody Shelley. The radio broadcast will be on the alternate channel of 105.7 with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play.
Join Jason Newland's Columbus Blue Jacket page on Bunches, a new app that connects sports fans. Also, you can watch a new YouTube game show about the Blue Jackets, Around the Fifth Line.