On Thursday, the Islanders beat the Blue Jackets 4-2.
Each team scored a pair of goals in the first period, with Dmitri Voronkov scoring his 18th of the year and Kirill Marchenko tallying his 21st.
Pierre Engvall and Bo Horvat scored the first-period goals for the Islanders before Noah Dobson put New York up 3-2 at 3:21 of the third and Kyle Palmieri iced the game with an empty-net goal at 19:22.
With the loss, the Blue Jackets fell to 25-39-12. They are currently last in the Eastern Conference and 29th in the NHL standings.
Here are three things from Thursday's game:
More Injuries
Daniil Tarasov left the game with an upper-body injury late in the first period and did not return and Jake Bean didn't play the final 7:30 of the game after suffering an injury that head coach Pascal Vincent said will keep him out of the lineup for a while. Vincent did not have an update on Tarasov.
The injuries continue to pile on for the Blue Jackets, who are currently without Adam Fantilli, Adam Boqvist, Kent Johnson, Yegor Chinakhov, Sean Kuraly, and Elvis Merzlikins due to various injuries, most of which have been long-term.
The Blue Jackets are up to 281 man-games lost this season.
Jet Greaves Shines In Relief
After taking over at 17:53 of the first period, Greaves was fantastic for the Blue Jackets, stopping 24 of 25 shots and posting 2.5 goals saved above expected (GSAx), per EvolvingHockey. In four NHL games this season, Greaves has been great, posting 5.24 GSAx along with a .917SV%. In 43 games with the AHL's Cleveland Monsters this season, he's posted a record of 27-12-4 with a .907SV%.
Greaves is certainly making a compelling case for why he should be a full-time NHL goalie, either as a starter or a backup, beginning next season.
David Jiricek's NHL Return
In his first NHL action since Jan. 9, David Jiricek registered 12:49 TOI and a game score of -0.08, per hockeystatcards.com.
Jiricek's turbulent second professional season has been well-documented, but he's likely going to have the rest of this season to show what he can do in the NHL against tough competition.
According to hockeystatcards.com, Jiricek has the third-best net rating among Blue Jackets defensemen, behind Zach Werenski and Nick Blankenburg.
In 37 NHL games this season, Jiricek has posted 1-8--9 in addition to 7-10--17 in 26 AHL games.
How will he play for the remainder of the season?
Next Up
The Blue Jackets host John Tortorella and the Flyers on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio.
