The Columbus Blue Jackets, under head coach Rick Bowness have been one of the best teams in league in almost every statistical category there is. They just recently suffered only their third regulation loss in 25 games, on the road against the New York Islanders on Sunday night, since Bowness took over in mid January.
If there was ever a team you could say has certainly found their way under new leadership, it is the Blue Jackets. Bowness has the team playing for one another and playing a brand of hockey that makes fans hopeful of a deep and fruitful playoff run.
Projected 2025-26 NHL standings as of March 18 pic.twitter.com/hQIldYAaq8
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) March 18, 2026
A lot of hockey experts, including The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn, are starting to also believe in this Blue Jackets team as a lot of projection models see them as a near sure thing into the playoffs even though they sit just one point above the playoff cutline with 12 games to play.
However, Bowness believes there is still something out there that isn’t quite going the Blue Jackets way and thinks is a major problem for the team right now. They have not been able to get very many power-play opportunities, and Bowness thinks it due to a lack of respect.
This also marks back-to-back games against the Islanders with no power plays for the Blue Jackets. In high-leverage games with massive playoff implications like these have been, the Blue Jackets have had zero power plays to the Islanders’ five in the past two games combined. On top of that, both games ended up being one-goal games, and a few opportunities could’ve been all the difference.
At some point, the calls have to start to even out, but lately they just have not gone Columbus’ way. Bowness is fired up about it and believes something needs to change.
Bowness Believes There Is a Lack of Respect
There have been a lot of cases, especially late in the loss Sunday to the Islanders when the Blue Jackets were pressuring in the offensive zone, that they were being held, tripped, or hooked, yet no call was made. One of the more obvious ones was Ivan Provorov getting taken down right in front of the net with no call. Even the Islanders broadcast crew thought a penalty should’ve been called.
The Blue Jackets have had the disadvantage in power-play opportunities by a large majority in a lot of their recent games, and Bowness commented on the matter after their 2-1 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers on March 14.
#CBJ head coach Rick Bowness after Philly had a 4-1 edge in power plays tonight: "The PKers won the game for us, really. They did. Especially that four minutes. I don't understand why we're always the team in the league that has the least amount of power plays. I don't understand…
— Jeff Svoboda (@JacketsInsider) March 15, 2026
How the Blue Jackets have found ways to win, or at least get points in most of their games, despite the challenge of not being able to frequently get to the man advantage has been impressive. They have required contributions from all four forward lines and their coring depth has taken off in a good way.
Sunday’s loss marks just the third time this season they have been shut out, but the first time under Bowness. How they respond will be the biggest test considering the many massively-important games left on the schedule: two more games against the Boston Bruins, two more against the Montreal Canadiens, and two more against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Playing against these high-level squads, and teams in playoff position, means the Blue Jackets will need to find a way to play their best game. They may just need to pick up some important calls along the way and allow their special-teams units to gain some steam heading into the postseason.
Blue Jackets Goaltenders Having Impact
Jet Greaves has also held the Blue Jackets in a lot of games as of late, which has made the disparity in power-play opportunities not look as bad on the scoreboard. Greaves is now 11-1-2 in his last 14 starts, and has been one of the biggest stars during the playoff push.
Elvis Merzlikins has also been quite good posting an 8-2-2 record over his last 12 starts, and because of this the team has not needed to worry so much about allowing opportunities. However, when Greaves played like he did on Sunday, stopping 21 of 22 shots and only allowing one goal, the expectation is that the Blue Jackets should win.
They outshot the Islanders 26-22, and they spent the last four minutes almost solely in the offensive zone. However, they just could not find the answer to beat Ilya Sorokin and he posted his league-leading seventh shutout of the season.
I can also understand officials not wanting to step in and be the factor as to why a team does or does not win a game. However, with that in mind, allowing obvious obstructions go uncalled does create a major stumbling block for the victim of the non call.
Columbus has found a way to stick around in games, and has even been able to win a majority of tight games down the stretch this season. While they control their own destiny, they can’t rely on their goaltenders to be the only saving grace they have.
If the Blue Jackets keep playing this physical brand of hockey that has led them to where they are now, eventually the calls should start to go their way. However, there is no time to complain: With 12 games left and a playoff berth waiting, the Blue Jackets have to take what they can get. The race to the finish in the Eastern Conference is officially here.
