Barzal_Nutivaara

BLUE JACKETS (38-27-3) at ISLANDERS (39-22-7)
7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-O, NHL.TV

Columbus is tied in points with the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
New York is 4-5-1 in its past 10 games and trails the Washington Capitals by four points for first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Islanders have lost four of their past six at the Coliseum.

Players to watch

Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past four games.
Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy has a three-game point streak (one goal, three assists).

They said it

"I haven't been able to scoreboard watch in like three years. It's exciting to be able to do it, and it's exactly the situation that I've been searching for a while in terms of being right in the mix and having big things to play for every single night. We want to keep things going. Every night's a grind right now, but at the same time, it's a lot of fun." -- Blue Jackets center Matt Duchene
"We've got what, 14 games left? It's going to be like this right until the very end. Even if you're winning, there's so many teams that are tight, everyone's going to pick up points. We'll be looking at the standings every day, but it doesn't change how you prepare." -- Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey

Blue Jackets projected lineup
Islanders projected lineup
Status report

Jenner became ill at the Blue Jackets hotel and will not play. … Lehner has done some on-ice work the past two days but remains day to day. … Boychuk will not play after being injured on a hit from Philadelphia Flyers forward Jakub Voracek in the third period of a 5-2 loss Saturday. … Clutterbuck is expected to return after missing three games with an upper-body injury.

Stat pack

New York is 0-for-18 on the power play in its past eight games; Columbus has allowed 28 power-play goals, the fewest in the NHL. … The Islanders have won eight of 15 games at Nassau Coliseum this season (8-5-2).