Tuesday night was the regular-season finale between the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders. Both teams came into play tied with 60 points, just one point ahead of the last-place Rangers, and one point out of the final wild-card spot.
Which is naturally occupied by two other division foes.
It almost looked like deja vu as Columbus matched their franchise-mark with 26 first period shots, set 10 days ago against these Islanders. New York scored the games’ first goal when John Tavares converted on the power play, his co-team lead, 29th, and 600th for his career.