Thursday, April 4, 2024 – 7:00 PM ET
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
TV: Bally Sports Ohio – Radio: 97.1 FM
Opponent’s Site: Lighthouse Hockey
New York Islanders (33-27-15, 81 points, 5th Metropolitan, 10th East)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (25-38-12, 62 points, 8th Metropolitan, 16th East)
After winning back-to-back games for just the third time this season, the Jackets are looking to make it three in a row for the first time in a long time. Their challenge is the New York Islanders, who need every point they can get in a tight Playoff race: Only four points separate the five teams competing for the third Metro slot and second Wildcard.
Player to Watch
Zach Werenski, Brock Nelson, and Ryan Pulock
We’re going with a trifecta for the PTW, because at this point in the season all I care about is the playoffs of the Cannon’s fantasy hockey league. Nelson leads the way with 4.85 Fantasy Points/Game, coming from 30 goals and 61 points in 75 games played this year, but only two goals in the last 30 days. Z’s next up with 4.47 FP/G, mostly coming from some excellent puck distributing, but three of his seven goals have been in the last seven games. And then Ryan Pulock is a waiver wire pickup I grabbed because I’m down by 0.66 points to Off the Post, and he’s the best available defenseman who’s playing the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Game Notes
Yesterday, the Jenners announced that their son was stillborn on March 31st, and to be honest it feels pretty weird to add anything else to this section beyond that. Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences go out to Boone and his family.
Season Series
10/28/2023 – NYI 2 at CBJ 0
12/7/2023 – CBJ 3 at NYI 7
4/4/2024 – NY Islanders at Columbus
Stats
| NY Islanders | Columbus | |
| 2.95 (23) | GPG | 2.85 (25) |
| 3.27 (23) | GAPG | 3.61 (31) |
| 20.3% (19) | PP% | 14.4% (31) |
| 72.1% (32) | PK% | 76.7% (24) |
| 47.2% (25) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 48.2% (22) |
| 48.1% (22) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 47.9% (24) |
| 8.3% (22) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.0% (11) |
| .921 (7) | 5v5 Save % | .911 (20) |
| Bo Horvat, 31 | G Leader | Boone Jenner, 22 |
| Noah Dobson, 58 | A Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 45 |
| Mathew Barzal, 76 | P Leader | Johnny Gaudreau, 56 |
| Anders Lee, 68 | PIM Leader | Erik Gudbranson, 72 |
| 16-17-5 | Home/Road | 15-18-5 |
| 4-5-1 | Last 10 | 3-5-2 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Johnny Gaudreau | Dmitri Voronkov | Alex Nylander |
| Alexandre Texier | Cole Sillinger | Kirill Marchenko |
| James Malatesta | Justin Danforth | Carson Meyer |
| Mikael Pyyhtia | Brenden Gaunce | Mathieu Olivier |
| Zach Werenski | Damon Severson |
| Ivan Provorov | Jake Bean |
| Jake Christiansen | Erik Gudbranson |
| Daniil Tarasov |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
New York Islanders
| Casey Cizikas | Bo Horvat | Mathew Barzal |
| Pierre Engvall | Brock Nelson | Kyle Palmieri |
| Anders Lee | JG Pageau | Simon Holmstrom |
| Matt Martin | Kyle MacLean | Cal Clutterbuck |
| Alexander Romanov | Noah Dobson |
| Adam Pelech | Ryan Pulock |
| Mike Rielly | Sebastian Aho |
| Ilya Sorokin |
| Semyon Varlamov |
Play Me Out
I had ACL surgery last Tuesday, and am aggressively apathetic towards this hockey team right now. Somehow I haven’t recommended an AJR song yet in this segment, so here’s “Inertia” from their latest album, The Maybe Man.