{"id":478620,"date":"2026-03-01T08:52:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T08:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/478620\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T08:52:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T08:52:47","slug":"islanders-nip-blue-jackets-in-overtime-to-maintain-playoff-positioning-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/478620\/","title":{"rendered":"Islanders nip Blue Jackets in overtime to maintain playoff positioning"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

Rarely have they been in the opposite chair, but there they were Saturday. Columbus came into the evening six points behind the Islanders \u2014 the playoff team closest to them \u2014 and with two games in hand. An Islanders win wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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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\u2019s game-winning goal that left the Blue Jackets seven points out of a playoff spot and gasping for air.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Simon<\/p>\n

Simon Holmstrom (right) celebrates with teammates after scoring the game-winning overtime goal in the Islanders\u2019 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets on Feb. 28, 2026 in Columbus, Ohio. Aaron Doster-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just needed to be better with our puck management, that\u2019s all it was,\u201d Roy said. \u201cWhen our \u2018D\u2019 were in [the offensive zone], we have to cover for them, and we didn\u2019t do a good job. And they took advantage of it.<\/p>\n

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\u201c\u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Ilya<\/p>\n

Ilya Sorokin makes a save on Boone Jenner during the first period of the Islanders\u2019 overtime road win over the Blue Jackets. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Columbus came back down and re-tied it on Adam Fantilli\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe saw what was working,\u201d Pageau said. \u201cLow to high, get pucks at the net, crash the net. That\u2019s what created most of our goals. Other than the OT winner, all the goals were created like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Undefeated in games that end in 3-on-3 play, though, the Islanders weren\u2019t about to let their perfect record slip. They barely let the Blue Jackets touch the puck, and Holmstrom eventually put away Tony DeAngelo\u2019s outlet pass to seal the win.<\/p>\n

\"Anders<\/p>\n

Anders Lee (right) battles for position with left wing Danton Heinen during the Islanders\u2019 road overtime win over the Blue Jackets. Aaron Doster-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we proved the last two games we\u2019re very resilient,\u201d Holmstrom said. \u201cWe don\u2019t quit. We stay with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Islanders had started this one slowly. Their puck management was less than great, and aside from Cal Ritchie\u2019s line, there weren\u2019t 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 Lundestr\u00f6m\u2019s tip from Dante Fabbro.<\/p>\n

Mason Marchment, the villain last time these teams played, made it 2-0 early in the second off Charlie Coyle\u2019s feed to the right circle that seemed to make its way through the Islanders\u2019 defense in slow motion.<\/p>\n

Lee and Pageau \u2014 who scored the tying and winning goals on Thursday in Montreal \u2014 pulled the Islanders back into the game, and this is a team that doesn\u2019t tend to let those opportunities go to waste.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t Saturday.<\/p>\n

And they may have just pushed Columbus\u2019 season to the brink.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Far too many times over the past few years, the Islanders have been in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5108],"tags":[1942,8493,3644,5180,5390,1285,897,230,5179,7405,6627,2628,5,277,8563,693,1944,862,264,4,5188,2905,5890,4652,4937,5891,2566],"class_list":["post-478620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-adam-fantilli","tag-anders-lee","tag-blue-jackets","tag-bluejackets","tag-boone-jenner","tag-charlie-coyle","tag-columbus","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-columbusbluejackets","tag-dante-fabbro","tag-danton-heinen","tag-don-waddell","tag-hockey","tag-ilya-sorokin","tag-jean-gabriel-pageau","tag-jet-greaves","tag-kirill-marchenko","tag-mason-marchment","tag-montreal","tag-nhl","tag-ohio","tag-patrick-roy","tag-scott-mayfield","tag-simon-holmstrom","tag-the-islanders","tag-tony-deangelo","tag-zach-werenski"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116153077982044323","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}