Sunday, December 28, 2025 – 5:00 PM ET
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: FDSNOH; Radio: 97.1 FM
New York Islanders (21-13-4, 46 points, 2nd Metro, 3rd East)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (15-15-6, 36 points, 8th Metro, 16th East)
Notes
The last time these two teams met the Jackets battled back to take an undeserved late lead on Long Island before a disastrous last minute collapse that, in my opinion, triggered the downward spiral into the bottom of the standings.
Coming back from the holidays the Jackets get to unveil their new present (Marchment) at home for the first time and also had the pleasure of unboxing a healthy Mathieu Olivier. Isac Lundestrom was injured at practice yesterday and is out and Werenski was moved to IR but is still being talked about as day to day. Sounds like maybe a return after the Ottawa game. With the return of Olivier the lines have been reconfigured again featuring a top line of Fantilli between two Marchys
A lot has already been said about the tight standings of the East. In a conference where few of the favorites seem to want to stay favorites, the Islanders have happily taken points in one of the more surprising stories of the season. While I ultimately don’t think they are as good as the standings/record indicate, Matthew Schaefer has been a revelation as a teenager and Ilya Sorokin has played like the best goalie in the world this year (he’s injured currently).
Stats
| Islanders | Columbus | |
| 2.79 (23) | GPG | 2.89 (22) |
| 2.63 (6) | GAPG | 3.44 (29) |
| 15.7 (27) | PP% | 20.7 (12) |
| 82.1 (10) | PK% | 74.3 (30) |
| 48.32 (20) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 50.22 (15) |
| 49.31 (18) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 49.01 (20) |
| 8.35 (25) | 5v5 Shooting % | 8.69 (22) |
| 92.52 (6) | 5v5 Save % | 90.58 (14) |
| Bo Horvat (19) | G Leader | Zach Werenski (14) |
| Mathew Barzal (19) | A Leader | Zach Werenski (26) |
| Bo Horvat (31) | P Leader | Zach Werenski (40) |
| Scott Mayfield (53) | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier (44) |
| 9-6-2 | Home/Road | 7-6-3 |
| 6-3-1 | Last 10 | 3-6-1 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Mason Marchment | Adam Fantilli | Kirill Marchenko |
| Dmitri Voronkov | Sean Monahan | Kent Johnson |
| Boone Jenner | Charlie Coyle | Mathieu Olivier |
| Miles Wood | Brendan Gaunce | Cole Sillinger |
| Ivan Provorov | Dante Fabbro |
| Denton Mateychuk | Damon Severson |
| Jake Christiansen | Brendan Smith |
| Jet Greaves |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
New York Islanders
| Jonathan Drouin | Bo Horvat | Emil Heineman |
| Anders Lee | Mathew Barzal | Simon Holmstrom |
| Maxim Shabanov | Calum Ritchie | JG Pageu |
| Kyle MacLean | Casey Cizikas | Marc Gatcomb |
| Matthew Schaefer | Ryan Pulock |
| Adam Pelech | Tony D |
| Marshall Warren | Scott Mayfield |
| David Rittich |
| Marcus Hogberg |