Monday, March 24th, 2025 – 7:30 PM ET
UBS Arena – Elmont, NY
TV: FDSNOH – Radio: 97.1FM
Columbus Blue Jackets (31-29-9, 71 points, 6th Metropolitan, 11th East)
at
New York Islanders (32-28-9, 73 points, 5th Metropolitan, 10th East)
It’s looking like the struggling Blue Jackets are about to get major boosts. Center Sean Monahan and defenseman Erik Gudbranson were both full participants in practice, and coach Dean Evason confirmed afterwards that they’ll have no restrictions. And boy howdy does Columbus need it. They’ve gone 1-7-1 in their last nine, and the playoffs are looking more and more out of reach. They need to turn this ship around now, and tonight is a chance to end the nosedive against one of the teams they’re chasing, the New York Islanders.
Player to Watch
Sean Monahan
The Jackets are getting their 1C back, as one of the best lines in hockey gets reunited tonight. Sean Monahan, Kirill Marchenko, and Dmitri Voronkov were electric for the bulk of the season, feasting off opposing turnovers. Adam Fantilli performed admirably during the first part of Monahan’s injury, but the magic has run out in the past three weeks. Here’s to hoping the return of Monahanov can get things going again.
Jackets Notes
Cole Sillinger was also a full participant in practice this week, and could hopefully return in the Jackets’ next game Friday. … Columbus is now three spots and four points behind the playoff line, on equal footing in terms of games played with all but the Rangers. … While a CBJ regulation win would give them an identical record to the Islanders, New York would stay ahead due to the regulation win tiebreaker.
The Other Bench
The Islanders, despite selling Brock Nelson at the trade deadline, are on a five-game point streak, with wins over the Panthers, Penguins, and Canadiens sandwiched between home overtime losses to Edmonton and Calgary.
Season Series
10/30/2024 – NYI 0 at CBJ 2
1/20/2025 – CBJ 1 at NYI 3
3/24/2025 – CBJ at NYI
4/17/2025 – NYI at CBJ
Stats
| NY Islanders | Columbus | |
| 2.72 (25) | GPG | 3.14 (11) |
| 2.96 (16) | GAPG | 3.32 (27) |
| 12.4% (32) | PP% | 18.8% (24) |
| 71.9% (30) | PK% | 75.4% (25) |
| 49.7% (17) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 48.4% (26) |
| 50.4% (11) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 48.8% (23) |
| 8.7% (18) | 5v5 Shooting % | 10.0% (3) |
| .920 (8) | 5v5 Save % | .908 (20) |
| Anders Lee, 25 | G Leader | Kirill Marchenko, 25 |
| Noah Dobson, 26 | A Leader | Zach Werenski, 49 |
| Bo Horvat, 48 | P Leader | Zach Werenski, 69 (nice) |
| Casey Cizikas, 38 | PIM Leader | Matthieu Olivier, 125 |
| 17-13-4 | Home/Road | 11-20-4 |
| 5-3-2 | Last 10 | 2-7-1 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Dmitri Voronkov | Sean Monahan | Kirill Marchenko |
| Boone Jenner | Adam Fantilli | Kent Johnson |
| Zach Aston-Reese | Justin Danforth | Mathieu Olivier |
| James van Riemsdyk | Sean Kuraly | Luke Kunin |
| Zach Werenski | Dante Fabbro |
| Ivan Provorov | Damon Severson |
| Denton Mateychuk | Erik Gudbranson |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
| Daniil Tarasov |
New York Islanders
| Simon Holmstrom | Bo Horvat | Kyle Palmieri |
| Anders Lee | Jean-Gabriel Pageau | Anthony Duclair |
| Pierre Engvall | Casey Cizikas | Hudson Fasching |
| Maxim Tsyplakov | Kyle MacLean | Marc Gatcomb |
| Alexander Romanov | Tony DeAngelo |
| Adam Pelech | Noah Dobson |
| Mike Reilly | Ryan Pulock |
| Ilya Sorokin |
| Marcus Hogberg |