Mat Barzal\u2019s ejection Sunday <\/a>for using his stick like a baseball bat and taking a hack at Mason Marchment, though, might have ramifications beyond his team\u2019s eventual late collapse and 4-2 loss to the Blue Jackets on Kirill Marchenko\u2019s game-winner.<\/p>\nIt would be no surprise if Barzal was hit with a suspension for Tuesday\u2019s game in Chicago, and the Islanders sorely missed No. 13 for the final 38 minutes of Sunday\u2019s loss, too.<\/p>\n
Without him, they took a lead, blew the lead and blew two points against a division rival.<\/p>\n
There wasn\u2019t much energy in the building and both teams looked disconnected for stretches Sunday. You did not need a well-trained eye to tell that the Islanders had played less than 24 hours prior, and you could have been fooled into thinking the Blue Jackets had, too.<\/p>\n
Both teams committed a heap of penalties, but none more notable than Barzal seeing red 1:37 into the second period after Marchment, for the second time, took liberties with rookie Matthew Schaefer.<\/p>\n
Bo Horvat #14 of the New York Islanders celebrates with Emil Heineman #51 after scoring a goal during the second period of the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on December 28, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Marchment had been called for roughing on a late hit on Schaefer in the first period, and stuck his knee out to trip him in the second. Ryan Pulock exchanged words with the Columbus winger, but Barzal decided to take things into his own hands, winding up and swinging his stick across Marchment\u2019s legs.<\/p>\n
He was immediately hit with a game misconduct and five-minute slashing major which, in a game that was tied at 1-1 at the time, could have been a killer for the Islanders.<\/p>\n
Not only did they kill off the major with some help from the Blue Jackets and Marchment, whose own penalties negated about four of the five minutes. But by the end of the second, the Islanders had taken a 2-1 lead on Bo Horvat\u2019s goal off the rush, his first since returning from a lower-body injury Saturday.<\/p>\n
That put the Islanders into a similar position as 24 hours prior, defending a one-goal lead against an increasingly desperate opponent.<\/p>\n
New York Islanders goalie David Rittich (33) makes a stick save as Columbus Blue Jackets center Charlie Coyle (3) looks for a rebound during the second period at Nationwide Arena. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
This time, they bent and finally broke with 4:33 to go in regulation after Ivan Provorov\u2019s shot from above the slot was deflected in by an Islanders stick on the way, tying the game at 2-2.<\/p>\n
The goal had been coming for some time, with the Islanders unable to exit their zone for more than a few seconds at a time and failing to clear out the blue paint around David Rittich\u2019s net as well as they had 24 hours prior.<\/p>\n
Before the Islanders could so much as reset, Marchenko gave Columbus a 3-2 lead off the rush with a backhand that beat Rittich just 74 seconds after Provorov\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n
Cole Sillinger sealed a game the Islanders had led mere minutes before with an empty-net goal.<\/p>\n
New York Islanders right wing Maxim Shabanov (49) passes the puck as Columbus Blue Jackets center Sean Monahan (23) trails the play during the first period at Nationwide Arena. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Marchenko opened the scoring for Columbus on the rush, beating Rittich \u2014 who started for the second consecutive day \u2014 glove side 8:09 into the match. Max Shabanov answered for the Islanders at 17:16 of the first, knocking in Jean-Gabriel Pageau\u2019s shot that caromed off Columbus netminder Jet Greaves.<\/p>\n
It was the first of multiple goals that Greaves, who was off his angle on Horvat\u2019s mark, would have wanted back.<\/p>\n
The Islanders healthy scratched Cal Ritchie as part of what seems to be becoming a rotation on the third line, putting Anthony Duclair back into the lineup after the latter sat in Saturday\u2019s victory over the Rangers.<\/p>\n
Though the lines were necessarily jumbled after Barzal\u2019s ejection, the fourth line largely stayed together and had a typically pesky, effective night. Schaefer was nonplussed by Marchment\u2019s provocations and far more noticeable offensively than against the Rangers. Tony DeAngelo and Max Shabanov are starting to stack good games on top of one another.<\/p>\n
The defensive posture the Islanders fell into in the third, though, cost them.<\/p>\n
They survived that against the Rangers, but did not have the same ability here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 At least the Islanders went down swinging. Mat Barzal\u2019s ejection Sunday for using his stick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16788,15315,9,11,6821,10,539,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-83167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","9":"tag-mathew-barzal","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-islanders","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}