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Columbus Blue Jackets Face Islanders in First Game After Bye Week

By Grant Miller

Dec 10, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Boone Jenner (38) cases the loose puck as New York Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk (55) defends during the second period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 10, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Boone Jenner (38) cases the loose puck as New York Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk (55) defends during the second period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports /
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It has been six days since the Columbus Blue Jackets have played a game. Tonight the boys in blue host the New York Islander’s. Tonight’s game is also the last leg of a seven game home stand.

The Columbus Blue Jackets host the New York Islanders tonight at Nationwide in a Metropolitan divisional clash with playoff implications for both teams. The Islanders find themselves in the second wild-card position and 11 points behind the CBJ who currently sit in the fist wild-card spot.

The Jackets are point behind the New York Rangers who are in third place in the Metro division. As the calendar turns to March, these four point divisional games become more and more important.

Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus Blue Jackets /

Columbus Blue Jackets

Islander’s continue to impress

The Islander’s have won three straight games headed into tonight’s match up. Their latest win coming against the Montreal Canadiens. The Islander’s shut out the Canadians 3-0 in Montreal.

Islander’s point leader John Tavares had an assist and a goal in the game on Thursday. The Islander’s have gone on an impressive run since firing then coach Jack Capuano on January 17th.

Jackets Looking to Build

The Columbus Blue Jackets are looking to build on a small stretch of consistency the teams showed before the bye week. While the Jackets are 4-3 in the past seven, the team has played with the intensity and pace we saw earlier in the year. A win against the Islander’s could go a long way in building momentum headed into this spring.

Injuries and Roster Moves

Columbus will be without spark plug Matt Calvert as he sustained an oblique injury in the last game before the bye week against the Predators. In response to the injury, the Jackets have called up Markus Hannikanen from Cleveland. The team is will also be without Lukas Sedlak who left the February 17th game against the Penguins with a lower body injury.

Related Story: Jackets Call up Bjorkstrand

Injuries are never good, but the play of Oliver Bjorkstrand since his calling up to Columbus makes it a little easier to manage. Bjorkstrand has scored 2 goals in three games and has been fitting in nicely with the top line paring with Alexander Wennberg and Brandon Saad.

The puck drops at 5 p.m. tonight. A huge part of the Jackets success this season has been winning games at home and dominating the third period. Here’s to hoping the Jackets can come out strong after a weeks long rest.

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