blue jackets vs islanders is set for a 7 p. m. ET puck drop at UBS Arena as Columbus visits New York on March 22. Both teams are on the second night of a back-to-back and did not hold morning skates, putting even more emphasis on pregame lineup reads. The Blue Jackets enter with 85 points and the Islanders with 83 points in the Eastern Conference.
Blue Jackets Vs Islanders projected lineups as teams skip morning skates
With no morning skates on the schedule, the clearest window into how this game could start comes from projected forward groups and the published scratch lists.
Columbus’ projected lines list Mason Marchment–Adam Fantilli–Kirill Marchenko on the top unit, followed by Kent Johnson–Sean Monahan–Conor Garland. The next two groups are Cole Sillinger–Charlie Coyle–Mathieu Olivier and Isac Lundestrom–Boone Jenner–Danton Heinen.
For New York, the projected top line is Anders Lee–Bo Horvat–Mathew Barzal. The next forward groups are Anthony Duclair–Brayden Schenn–Emil Heineman, then Ondrej Palat–Jean-Gabriel Pageau–Simon Holmstrom, and Calum Ritchie–Casey Cizikas–Marc Gatcomb.
Scratches, injuries, and the goaltending picture heading into puck drop
Columbus’ scratch list includes Miles Wood, Dimitri Voronkov, Egor Zamula, and Jake Christiansen. The team also has Brendan Smith listed out with a lower-body issue after missing 31 games on injured reserve, and he is noted as out for the rest of the regular season.
On the Islanders’ side, injuries listed are Max Shabanov (lower body), Alexander Romanov (upper body), and Semyon Varlamov (knee).
In goal, the expected start for Columbus is Greaves, with the note that Elvis Merzlikins made 15 saves in a 5-2 win against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. For New York, Ilya Sorokin is listed as the likely starter after being pulled in a 7-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in which he allowed six goals on 32 shots; he is also noted as likely to start back-to-back games for the first time this season.
How to watch and where this matchup stands in the East
The game begins at 7 p. m. ET at UBS Arena. The matchup is available on +. A separate game listing also notes FANDUEL SPORTS NETWORK for the broadcast, with radio coverage on 97. 1 The Fan and Bob McElligott on play-by-play.
In the standings snapshot provided for today’s game, Columbus is seventh in the Eastern Conference with 85 points, and New York is ninth with 83 points. Records listed for the clubs are 37-21-11 for the Blue Jackets and 39-26-5 for the Islanders.
What’s next after blue jackets vs islanders
With both clubs playing the second night of a back-to-back and operating without morning skates, the final confirmation will come at pregame warmups and the official lineup card closer to puck drop at 7 p. m. ET. The immediate focus will be whether the projected forward groups hold and how the expected starts in net settle the tone early. Once the opening minutes are in the books, the next updates will center on any in-game lineup changes tied to the injury situations already on the board for both teams coming into blue jackets vs islanders.
