COLUMBUS, Ohio _ The Islanders again showed the resilience that had prevented them from losing two regulation games in a row for so long. They quickly and decisively recovered from a three-goal deficit and tied the Blue Jackets in the second period. And they later chipped away at a two-goal hole.
They just didn't make it all the way back. Not even the first career hat trick by Josh Bailey, who entered tied for first in the league in assists, could prevent a 6-4 loss in a typically tough contest in a hotly contested division. They were burned by an odd-man rush after Johnny Boychuk was injured up ice in the second period and never did draw even again.
So, they have two successive regulation losses for the first time this season, and they must pump their resilience a little harder now that they are in a 2-5-1 skid.
As much as the players and (especially) the coaches might try to avoid talking about it or thinking about it, there is no getting around the fact there is just no breathing room in the Metropolitan Division. Entering Thursday night, only eight points separated the two teams on the top from the two at the bottom.
The Islanders were in fourth, but only two points behind their opponent, the Blue Jackets, who were tied for first. As Doug Weight said before the game: "How do you not look? (Going from) first to fifth is very, very possible. It's happened a couple of times to teams. You know. If we win tonight we're tied with them. I don't think anybody doesn't know that.
"I think what you have to focus on is not what everybody else is doing. You've just got to keep banking your points and playing well enough to win and keep trying to get better every game. I think it's important because every point is important," he said.
In other words, there is no room for slumps. A team has to be ready to jump from the opening faceoff, which the Islanders again failed to do Thursday night. Coming off a lackluster game at home against the Stars, in which they were down 2-0 before they knew it, they were down 2-0 very early again. By the time the first period was over, they were down 3-0.
Thomas Greiss got his chance to try to turn it around, after Jaroslav Halak had started four games in a row. His teammates did not give him much of a chance to gain his footing.
No one, for instance stopped Artemi Panarin from holding onto the puck while covering basically the entire offensive zone, until he passed to the slot, where Zach Werenski scored at 3:57. The Islanders were unable to clear the puck or Blue Jackets bodies and the result was Markus Nutivaara's goal from the doorstep at 6:23. It actually could have been worse had Greiss not stopped Werenski's breakaway attempt in between. A late power-play goal by Pierre-Luc Dubois made it 3-0. At that point, the Blue Jackets had outscored the Islanders 19-0 in the past eight periods at Nationwide Arena.
But the Islanders were a completely different team in the second period, unfazed by the site. Bailey, entering the night with a share of the National Hockey League lead in assists, turned the tables and scored two goals. In between, Casey Cizikas, promoted from the fourth line to the third (replacing Anthony Beauvillier, who was scratched) scored. The result was a 3-3 tie and new evidence of the Islanders' resilience.
Momentum was lost, though, as Boychuk appeared to get tied up with a Blue Jackets player behind Sergei Bobrovsky's net. Boychuk went down hard and was unable to get back up the ice. With the resulting odd-man rush, Seth Jones scored to put the Blue Jackets ahead again at 15:03. Less than three minutes later, on a delayed penalty, Nick Foligno scored to give the home team a 5-3 lead.
The good news for the Islanders was that Boychuk was able to return in the third period. Bailey's third goal cut it to 5-4. Their grasp on the game did not come all the way back as the Blue Jackets capped it with an empty-net goal in the final second.
