The Columbus Blue Jackets return home after a few days of rest with the third game of four on their April home stand against the New York Islanders. This is their third and final meeting of the season. The goal is avoid the sweep and mess up the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The big question for the Jackets is the status of the team tonight as Boone Jenner and wife are coping with the loss of their stillborn child as the club announced yesterday. This might be a win it for Boone game for the team. Motivation has to be behind the boys. The will to win must exist somewhere.

A loss for the Islanders this late in the season could cost them the playoffs. The win would move the Jackets to three points behind the Coyotes. An overtime loss puts them four points behind the Yotes.

Columbus has not finalized their lineups, as there is a sick bug going around the squad. However, it has been confirmed that David Jiricek and Trey Fix-Wolansky have been recalled by the team from AHL Cleveland. Jiricek will go in for Jake Christiansen as he is returned to the minors. Danfroth is questionable.

It’s expected Daniil Tarasov will start against Ilya Sorokin.

Projected Lineups

New York Islanders

Casey Cizikas -- Bo Horvat -- Mathew Barzal

Pierre Engvall -- Brock Nelson -- Kyle Palmieri

Anders Lee -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Simon Holmstrom

Matt Martin -- Kyle MacLean -- Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock

Alexander Romanov -- Noah Dobson

Mike Reilly -- Robert Bortuzzo

Ilya Sorokin

Semyon Varlamov

Scratched: Oliver Wahlstrom, Hudson Fasching, Sebastian Aho

Injured: None

Columbus Blue Jackets

Johnny Gaudreau -- Dmitri Voronkov -- Alex Nylander

Alexandre Texier -- Cole Sillinger -- Kirill Marchenko

James Malatesta -- Justin Danforth -- Carson Meyer

Mikael Pyyhtia -- Brendan Gaunce -- Mathieu Olivier

Zach Werenski -- Damon Severson

Ivan Provorov -- Erik Gudbranson

Jake Bean -- David Jiricek

Daniil Tarasov

Jet Greaves

Scratched: Trey Fix-Wolansky

Injured: Adam Fantilli (calf laceration), Sean Kuraly (lower body), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Adam Boqvist (upper body), Elvis Merzlikins (lower body), Boone Jenner (personal)

Players to Watch

NY Isles- Alex Romanov — leader in plus minus at +14. Also on my fantasy team in the championship.

Columbus - Dmitry Voronkov — could become third player to score 20.

Predicted Final Score

NYI - 0

CBJ - 1

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