COLUMBUS, Ohio — Far too many times over the past few years, the Islanders have been in the same position the Blue Jackets were Saturday night: playing a four-point game, long before the end of the season, where it felt like their lives were on the line.
Rarely have they been in the opposite chair, but there they were Saturday. Columbus came into the evening six points behind the Islanders — the playoff team closest to them — and with two games in hand. An Islanders win wasn’t going to eliminate the Blue Jackets, but surely a growing standings deficit the week of the trade deadline would point Columbus general manager Don Waddell in a certain direction.
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Now, Waddell has a hard week in front of him. His team tossed away a 2-0 lead in a game it was dominating through 30 minutes, and the Islanders walked out of Nationwide Arena with a 4-3 overtime victory on Simon Holmstrom’s game-winning goal that left the Blue Jackets seven points out of a playoff spot and gasping for air.
It was the second game of two on this road trip in which the Islanders trailed by two goals in the second period, and the second game of two in which their resiliency, along with some timely adjustments from coach Patrick Roy, made that forgettable.
Simon Holmstrom (right) celebrates with teammates after scoring the game-winning overtime goal in the Islanders’ 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets on Feb. 28, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. Aaron Doster-Imagn Images
“We just needed to be better with our puck management, that’s all it was,” Roy said. “When our ‘D’ were in [the offensive zone], we have to cover for them, and we didn’t do a good job. And they took advantage of it.
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“… I thought we started putting more pressure on our neutral zone instead of sitting back. We had more pressure on our forecheck and we pressed more on the D-Zone coverage. I thought that created the game we had towards the end.”
There was also something more simple: throwing pucks and bodies to the net. That was how Anders Lee, off a Scott Mayfield rebound, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, off his own rebound, scored 22 seconds apart to tie the game just after its halfway point. And it was how Mayfield made it 3-2 off a shot that ricocheted, taking a hard left turn off Kirill Marchenko and hitting Zach Werenski before crossing the goal line at 17:10 of the second.
Ilya Sorokin makes a save on Boone Jenner during the first period of the Islanders’ overtime road win over the Blue Jackets. NHLI via Getty Images
Columbus came back down and re-tied it on Adam Fantilli’s deflection from Werenski to set up a 3-3 game entering the last 20 minutes, but the damage was done and the game had shifted.
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“We saw what was working,” Pageau said. “Low to high, get pucks at the net, crash the net. That’s what created most of our goals. Other than the OT winner, all the goals were created like that.”
Just like two nights prior in Montreal, the Islanders got better as the game went on. The third period was their best, and if not for some good work by Jet Greaves, the Blue Jackets would have lost this game before overtime.
Undefeated in games that end in 3-on-3 play, though, the Islanders weren’t about to let their perfect record slip. They barely let the Blue Jackets touch the puck, and Holmstrom eventually put away Tony DeAngelo’s outlet pass to seal the win.
Anders Lee (right) battles for position with left wing Danton Heinen during the Islanders’ road overtime win over the Blue Jackets. Aaron Doster-Imagn Images
“I think we proved the last two games we’re very resilient,” Holmstrom said. “We don’t quit. We stay with it.”
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The Islanders had started this one slowly. Their puck management was less than great, and aside from Cal Ritchie’s line, there weren’t many chances to speak of. Even Ilya Sorokin made a rare error, letting the puck trickle through him 2:30 into the game on Isac Lundeström’s tip from Dante Fabbro.
Mason Marchment, the villain last time these teams played, made it 2-0 early in the second off Charlie Coyle’s feed to the right circle that seemed to make its way through the Islanders’ defense in slow motion.
Lee and Pageau — who scored the tying and winning goals on Thursday in Montreal — pulled the Islanders back into the game, and this is a team that doesn’t tend to let those opportunities go to waste.
They didn’t Saturday.
And they may have just pushed Columbus’ season to the brink.