The Blue Jackets record now stands at 37-22-11 with 85 points. They're currently 3rd in the Metro, 7th in the East, and 10th in the NHL.
Ilya Sorokin has a voodoo doll, or a vendetta against the Columbus Blue Jackets. With his shutout win against the CBJ on Sunday night, his record is 8-0-3 against Columbus. No matter what the Blue Jackets did, the puck just always seemed to find his glove.
Jet Greaves, minus the goal given up at the beginning of the game, played a pretty good game himself. He was able to settle in and stop 21 of 22 Isles shots, which included four on the three New York power plays.
Speaking of power plays, the CBJ didn't earn a power play in the game, despite several plays that could've easily been called. The referees had other ideas. This marks the second game straight between Columbus and New York where the Blue Jackets didn't have a power play. People will argue that every team commits penalties, so I guess it just depends on whether or not they feel like calling them.
It's not all doom and gloom, though, even with the loss to NYI, the Blue Jackets still occupy third in the Metro. This just means they have to turn up the heat and beat Philadelphia and Montreal this week.
This is the first regulation loss for the Blue Jackets since February 26th against the Boston Bruins.
First Period - SOG 8-7 CBJ - No CBJ Goals
Isles forward Bo Horvat wasted no time on a breakout play just 1:25 into the game to put the Islanders up 1-0. It was a nasty shot by Horvat that beat Greaves with ease.
The first 10 minutes of the game were very sloppy for the CBJ. To this point, they've only won a single faceoff in nine tries but do have more shots on goal.
Denton Mateychuk shot a puck over the glass at the 13:50 mark to give the Isles their first power play. The Jackets killed it with ease to keep the score 1-0.
This was not a good period of play for Columbus. They did manage to outshoot New York but were dominated at the faceoff dot to the tune of only winning 26.3% of them. They're lucky to only be trailing by a goal at this point.
Second Period - SOG 10-5 Islanders - No CBJ Goals
There wasn't a lot of action during the first eight minutes of the second period. Both teams would combine for only five total shots on goal. There was a bit of chippiness, though, as both teams were exchanging slashes and crosschecks. Luckily for Columbus, none of those resulted in going to the box.
With 3:16 left in the second period, Cole was called for tripping Mathew Barzal, which gave the Islanders their second power play. The Jackets were able to kill it to keep the game 1-0.
The Islanders carried a lot of the play and again dominated the faceoffs. The Jackets have only won 10 of 35 faceoffs to this point.
Third Period - SOG 12-6 CBJ - No CBJ Goals
Kirill Marchenko gave the Isles another power play when he was called for hooking Simon Holmstrom. So far, the Blue Jackets can do nothing right, as opposed to the Islanders, who can't seem to do anything wrong. The Blue Jackets killed off the penalty, which was their third kill of the night. They've now killed off 8 of the last 9 Islander power plays.
Anders Lee seemed to put the Jackets away with 7:54 left in the third period when the puck somehow ended up in the net. The goal was challenged for goalie interference, but there was no way they were overturning that goal. But alas, after a review, it was determined that Jet Greaves was tracking the puck and attempted to save it, but couldn't because Lee was in the crease. The Jackets would still be down by just one goal.
The Blue Jackets were never able to put any real pressure on Sorokin until they pulled Jet Greaves with under two minutes to play. They put a scare or two into the Islanders but couldn't beat Sorokin.
Final Stats
CBJ APPPlayer Stats & Notes
- Cole Sillinger had 5 shots and 2 hits.
- Zach Werenski had 3 shots and played 29:01.
- Mathieu Olivier had 4 hits and 2 shots.
Team Stats
- The Jackets weren't awarded a power play in this game. This is the second straight game Columbus has played the Islanders and hasn't had a power play.
- The Columbus PK stopped all three Islander power plays. They're now 8 of 9 on the season
- Columbus won 40% of the faceoffs - 20/50
- The Blue Jackets had 24 hits and 16 blocks.
Next Up For Columbus: The Blue Jackets travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers on Tuesday night.
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